What Happens If A President Refuses To Concede An Election

As the 2020 presidential election has dragged on for days — the protracted result of the continued count of an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots due to voters' concerns about the coronavirus pandemic — incumbent president Donald Trump unsurprisingly cries foul play.

In the wee-morning hours of November 4, the president made a speech from the White House prematurely declaring victory.

But then as states continued to count votes, Trump saw his lead slipping away in key states. He paradoxically called for some to stop counting and others to continue, depending on his standing at the time.

According to Business Insider, Trump was advised by his aides that the characteristically impulsive cry to "stop the count" would have actually given the election to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, had election officials across the country heeded his call.

In the months leading up to election day, Trump repeatedly circulated the unverified claims that mail-in voting would be rife with fraud. According to the BBC, he has tweeted over 70 times about what he considered to be the unreliability of mail-in voting, voter fraud, or otherwise "rigged" elections since April. But as numerous news organizations have repeatedly pointed out, studies consistently show that voter fraud is extremely rare.

According to USA Today, no losing presidential candidate in modern history has refused to concede defeat once the numbers have come in, but there is also no law requiring a concession. It's actually up to the losing candidate to be a good sport and admit defeat.

The president has already stoked fears that he won't leave office if he loses. He refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power when asked about the possibility at a press briefing in September.

According to Live Science, no sitting president has ever rejected the results of an election. Contests in 1824 and 1876 went to the House of Representatives after neither candidate came away with a majority in the electoral college, but no one has ever actually refused to leave the White House.

For centuries, it's been little more than faith in institutions that has ensured the peaceful transfer of power.

The Biden campaign has said it's not worried about Trump refusing to step down if he loses the race.

And Trump's attempts to cry foul could end up backfiring on him.

The New York Times reported that officials from his own party reacted in very different ways. Some, including members of his family, supported the president's baseless claims of fraud, while others reprimanded him for questioning the country's time-tested institutions.

Republican Senators Pat Toomey and Mitt Romney, to name two, directly censured him.

Keep watching to see What Happens If A President Refuses To Concede An Election.


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