Delay the National Elections?

There is talk in the media and the government about postponing Election Day in the event of a terrorist attack on or about Election Day.

Bad idea.

There are not many reasons that we should delay Election Day:

1) Nuclear attack on the United States.
2) BioChem attack on the United States.
3) Massive power outages like the August 2003 blackout that left people without power in the East and Midwest.
4) One or both candidates are assassinated.

We should NOT postpone the elections if a few car bombs go off, or some trains get bombed or if more skyscrapers get rammed by passenger planes or Wall Street is leveled. If they're that worried about an attack, then they should ground all air travel for a few days before and the day of the election.

They can do this by going to Threat Condition Red. This may scare people away from the polls if they do go to Red so maybe that isn't such a hot idea. But the air travel? They can tell people when there will be no air service so that they can make alternate plans.

Delaying Election Day is what rulers do when they are trying to establish a dictatorship. If a dictatorship starts here, then al-Qaeda has won. We may as well bring all of our troops home, ground the Navy and the Air Force, and prepare to fight another revolution. That's the conspiracy theory. Let's not even go there.

If we get nuked, that's a good reason for delaying the election. If there's a plague or a massive attack by an enemy using chemical or biological weapons, that's a good reason. If there's no power, they can't open the polls. That's a good reason. Assassinations are another good reason. If both candidates die, what happens then? That should be addressed. Everything else...life sucks, wear a helmet and VOTE.