WASHINGTON [CNN] - U.S. officials have discussed the idea of postponing Election Day in the event of a terrorist attack on or about that day, a Homeland Security Department spokesman said Sunday.
The department has referred questions about the matter to the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, said spokesman Brian Roehrkasse, confirming a report in this week's editions of Newsweek magazine.

Newsweek said the discussions about whether the November 2 election could be postponed started with a recent letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge from DeForest Soaries Jr., chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

The commission was set up after the disputed 2000 presidential vote to help states deal with logistical problems in their elections.

Soaries, who was appointed by President Bush, is a former New Jersey secretary of state and senior pastor of the 7,000-member First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset.

Newsweek reported that Soaries expressed concern that no federal agency had the authority to postpone an election and asked Ridge to ask Congress to give his commission such power.

Ridge warned Thursday that al Qaeda terrorists were planning a large-scale attack on the United States "in an effort to disrupt the democratic process."

Ridge said he had no specific or credible information about threats to the political conventions. The four-day Democratic convention kicks off July 26 in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Republican National Convention begins August 30 in New York City.

Ridge also said the nation's color-coded terrorist threat level would remain at yellow, or elevated.

Democratic Rep. Jane Harman of California, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that she believes planning for the possibility of postponing Election Day is "excessive, based on what we know."

"Six days ago, the leadership of the House and Senate intelligence committees and leadership of the House and Senate were briefed on these so-called new threats," Harman said on CNN's "Late Edition."

"They are more chatter about old threats, which were the subject of a press conference by Attorney General [John] Ashcroft and [FBI] Director [Robert] Mueller six weeks ago.

"[Ridge] sounded more like an interior decorator talking about what more we can do under the shade of yellow," she said.

The news that such discussions have taken place raised other eyebrows on Capitol Hill as well.

"I don't think there's an argument that can be made, for the first time in our history, to delay an election," said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the Intelligence Committee.

"We hold elections in the middle of war, in the middle of earthquakes, in the middle of whatever it takes. The election is a statutory election. It should go ahead, on schedule, and we should not change it."

But the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Christopher Cox of California, said on "Late Edition" that he sees Ridge's request as part of a prudent effort to plan for "doomsday scenarios."

"We don't have any intelligence to suggest that it is going to happen, but we're preparing for all of these contingencies now," Cox said.

Noting that New York election officials were able to postpone their September 11, 2001, primary election after terrorists slammed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center, Cox said "there isn't any body that has that authority to do that for federal elections."

"So what Secretary Ridge has asked the Justice Department to do is, 'Give me a legal memo, tell me what will be necessary. Do we need to go to Congress and get legislation?' "

What has Homeland Security officials worried is that terrorists could attempt to disrupt the election in the same way that train bombings in Madrid created unrest three days before the Spanish general election, Roehrkasse said.

Although there is no evidence that the bombings influenced the March 11 vote, socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero unseated Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, whose center-right government supported the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The country's new government then pulled Spanish troops from Iraq.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/11/election.day.delay/index.html

The funny thing is, I read this on Al-Jazeera the other day and dismissed it as a propaganda ploy against the United States' democratic system.

It really disturbs me to know that this might happen. It makes Bush a dictator if he delays the vote. He has seized power by cheating his way into office (much like Palpatine) and refuses to give it up.

I should move to Canada.

I don't see anything wrong with this, if anything you're reading into it too far. They are discussing, in the event of an attack, what the best way to stop the elections would be.

Democratic Rep. Jane Harman of California, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that she believes planning for the possibility of postponing Election Day is "excessive, based on what we know."

Not discussing plans would be foolhardy.

Now, if the president was actively trying to get the elections stopped, then I would be worried. I'm not going to sweat because a few people are thinking about what to do should we be attacked on or near election day.

Seems more along the lines of setting up a contingency than actually changing the date beforehand.

I agree with them. The government should be planning for the event of a terrorist attack. And since when did President Bush cheat his way into office? Not his fault people don't know how to vote correctly.

Bush cheated his way into office. They found ballots floating around in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the late Florida recount. Convenient that his brother was the governor of Florida at the time.

As you can all probably tell, I am not a Bush fan. I do agree that the government should take every precaution to prevent a terrorist attack, but I also believe that if we allow terrorist organizations to disrupt the democratic policies of this nation, they have won. They have what they want....

I have no problem with setting up a contingency plan.

Bush cheated his way into office. They found ballots floating around in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the late Florida recount. Convenient that his brother was the governor of Florida at the time.

I would like some proof of such an incendiary statement before I believe anything like that. Talk about a conspiracy theory.

The 2000 election was a screw-up, no doubt, but you can't tell me Bush activly planned himself to win by such a slight margin of error with his brothers help. If Al Gore hadn't been such a moron, and carried his home state of Tennesse, or the Demcratic bastion of West Virginia, which hadn't voted for a non-incumbent Republican in over a half century, then the Florida mess wouldn't have mattered.

And also, I don't think Bush is conspiring to delay the elections- what purpose would it serve. The situation in Iraq, as well as the economy, dicatate that if Bush wanted to rig the elections, he would move them up, so nothing elese major would occur to hurt his standing. Moving them farther back can only hurt his standing, especially if he is seen as responsible for allowing a major terror attack occur.

Fahrenheit 9/11 explains this.

Be opened minded and see the documentary.

Ah, TRF, a microcasm of world politics.

Anyways, I am greatly concerned by this, but I think I'll wait until we hear more. Obviously, it makes sense to think of what to do if a disaster of some sort hits America during their elections, however, if the plan becomes to delay it before hand because of "Intelligence suggesting an attack" that does sound a bit suspiscious. I don't want to speculate overly, but this could either be a sensible step in planning just incase things go wrong, or perhaps part of a plan to "Conveniently" delay the election until factors favour those who seem linked to this commission (Bush and Co.)