Do not give the half -cooked elections to Donald Trump who predict more juice than they deserve it

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A first episode of South Park presents a secondary intrigue in which tiny gnomes sneak in the houses of South Park residents in order to steal their calendars. When asked why, they explain that calendar collection is only the beginning: “Well, phase 1, we collect the calendars.” “And phase 2?” “Well, phase 3 is a profit.” When they are in a hurry, they explain again: “You see, phase 1, collect calendars. Phase 2… [silence]. Phase 3, profit. »»

It is a beautifully clean stuffing of half -cooked ideas, designed for business plans but easily adaptable to all kinds of diagram. And it is deeply relevant for current electoral conversations.

Last month, President Trump noted that Vladimir Putin suggested that he was prohibiting the vote sent by post. Leave aside for a while the origin of the idea. Leave aside the fact that Trump is one of the millions of Americans who (successfully, successfully) voted by mail. Leave aside the fact that the Republicans, supported by infrequent voters, are probably injured the most at the moment by modifying the existing rules. The president does not have the power to prohibit postal voting.

However, the following week, Trump reiterated his desire to end the vote by mail – and added that he issued an executive decree to demand an identity document from the voters. The president also has no power to demand an electoral card of voters.

More recently, some of Trump’s orbit say he will declare a national emergency to “protect” the federal elections. But even if the president had declared a national emergency, this declaration would not have the power to change even a single electoral practice.

These statements predict the frenzy predictably. The Constitution gives no role to the president in the management of the elections. This administration has shown a propensity to sprint past constitutional borders (although I think that it is notable that they seem to be largely taking into account specific judicial orders, perhaps because they can always have real consequences), and therefore people assume that it will ignore the limits here too. But I am not only talking about the absence of the president of the legal authority to prohibit postal vote or require an identity document from voters. What I mean is that he has not power do either.

Trump has a unilateral ability to move the economy, in a legal and illegal way. It has a unilateral capacity to move the army, in an illegal and illegal way. It has a unilateral capacity to declare national emergencies which unlock other specific authorities granted by law. It does not have the unilateral capacity to move electoral practices.

Local and local authorities organize elections in accordance with the laws adopted by federal and state legislatures. The president can try to persuade them to change their practices all day, and in certain circles, where the legislators of the States lend themselves, he could succeed in this persuasion. This persuasion could even start to look like a “persuasion”, with increasing assault. Publications on social networks could start to come in all ceilings.

But the president is not a magic sorcerer. States and local officials who do not want to listen to a presidential order for the elections I don’t have to listen to a presidential prescription during the elections. And it is not a shorthand for having run in court to cancel the decree. I mean they really don’t have to listen. A decree is a service note for federal agencies. For a local state or official, the day after an executive decree is exactly the day before. They can read the executive decree in the voice of Charlie Brown teacher. They can – and want to decide not to do what he says he has to do.

There is no doubt that the president draws the attention of the media, and a decree without any authority complicates the communication environment. This reassures confusion and destabilizes confidence in the electoral processes that have proved to be repeatedly worthy of this trust. But he has only this power to disturb if we allow him to have this power. This does not change any part of the operation of the elections.

In phase 1, the president issues a decree declaring a national emergency and claiming to change our way of voting. In phase 3, Presto, the way we vot change.

What is phase 2?