WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump has raised the idea of delaying the next election, scheduled for November, suggesting that mail-in voting will be subject to fraud.

“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” Trump tweeted on Thursday. “It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” Trump said in a tweet on Thursday morning.

Trump, however, cannot delay the election as he needs the consent of Congress and it is unlikely the Democratic-controlled House would approve such a move.

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted many states to expand and ease restrictions on their mail-in and absentee voting options. Poll workers who tend to be older have declined to volunteer to staff polling places for fear of infection and voters are reluctant to stand in long lines.

The dates of federal elections are set by Congress, and the US Constitution makes no provisions for a delay to the Jan. 20, 2021 presidential inauguration.

Trump's proposal comes as the US economy suffered its sharpest downturn since at least the 1940s in the second quarter of the year, while jobless claims rose for a second consecutive week, highlighting how the pandemic has ravaged businesses across the country and left millions of Americans out of work. — Agencies