Fact: The presidential election cannot be canceled — the Constitution requires that presidential elections take place this year.
No one, not even the president, can cancel the presidential election. Congress set the current date for presidential elections in 1845 and it has been held on this date every four years — even through the Civil War and two world wars – for over 175 years.
Furthermore, the Constitution requires the president’s term to end on January 20. There are no exceptions that would allow the president to stay in office after that date unless the president is reelected.
Rumor: The presidential election can be canceled in the event of a national emergency or at the will of the president.
Rumors that the presidential election will be canceled — whether due to a national emergency or otherwise — have spread online, particularly in Spanish. Bad actors hope to discourage people from voting, undermine confidence in our democracy, and create uncertainty around election processes.
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We worked with Swayable, a research software platform that measures how effectively media content changes opinions, to determine what messages helped voters best understand the facts.
Suggested counter-message based on our testing:
- No presidential election has ever been canceled in U.S. history, not even during the civil war and two world wars.
- Anyone who tells you the presidential election will be canceled is lying to you.
The messages above were found to be most effective in communicating the facts, though differences exist by region and demographic group. See this dashboard to examine more detailed results for the counter-message, including other messages tested.
