Why one nation, one election is ringing in US

In India, one nation, one election is a hot-button political issue. It is ringing in the US too, albeit in a different way ahead of the crucial November 5, 2024 US Presidential election. In the US, it is the political right wing that is warning that one nation, one election could become the norm if the Democrats were to win the November polls.
In India, the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asserted that India will roll out simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha, state Assemblies and local bodies in this term of government.
The Cabinet had on September 18 cleared the one nation, one election bill, and it will most likely be tabled in Parliament in the upcoming winter session. The government argues that simultaneous polls can save money and time spent on conducting elections.
Several opposition parties, including the Congress, AAP and Shiv Sena (UBT), have opposed simultaneous polls, alleging that it would benefit the ruling party at the Centre.
They claim it will benefit the ruling party, the BJP in this case, and was planned to facilitate “one nation, one leader”, and “one nation, one party”.
This is the premise that the Republicans are trying to whip up support for Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“Very few Americans realise that, if Trump is not elected, this will be the last election. Far from being a threat to democracy, he is the only way to save it,” posted Tesla and X boss Elon Musk.
So, like the Opposition in India, which is arguing that simultaneous polls would spell doom for democracy, boosting a single party, the political right in the US believes that it would be left with one nation, one election if Democrats win the November polls.
“…America then becomes a one-party state and democracy is over. The only ‘elections’ will be the Democratic Party primaries,” said Elon Musk, urging voters to support Trump.

Tesla chief Elon Musk’s post on X.

The warning from Elon Musk, who is from the political right-wing and a supporter of former president Donald Trump, is over millions of voters who have been naturalised by the Joe Biden administration.
“If even 1 in 20 illegals become citizens per year, something that the Democrats are expediting as fast as humanly possible, that would be about 2 million new legal voters in 4 years,” Musk said.
“The voting margin in the swing states is often less than 20 thousand votes. That means if the Democratic Party succeeds, there will be no more swing states,” he added.
Musk alleged that the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration had been flying in asylum seekers and fast-tracking their citizenship in swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Arizona.
He called it a “surefire way to win every election”.
He said the US would become a “one-party state” and the only “elections” to be held are Democratic Party primaries.
That’s Musk’s warning about one nation, one election in the US if naturalised immigrants were allowed to vote and the Democrats won the Presidential election.
Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov, who lives in New York, countered Elon Musk.
“Instead of worrying about the 50% of eligible US voters who don’t vote, or Trump, who literally tried to cancel out the last election with violence, he’s trying to panic racists over immigrants voting someday. Which is normal and good and an American strength for centuries,” wrote Kasparov on his X handle.

Garry Kasparov post on X.

Trump has amped up the rhetoric to keep immigration as a central theme of the election.
He has been talking about migrants as a grave danger to the state, warning, without evidence, that illegal immigrants could evict local residents from their homes.
Her Democrat rival, Kamala Harris, has reiterated that the immigration system in the US is “broken and requires a legislative fix”.
Musk had earlier, on September 10, too, said that this would be the last election if Trump lost.
It isn’t just Musk, there are several other influencers who are talking about the “last election”.
“Hate to break it to you, but 2016 was America’s last real election. Then the elites said they’d never let it happen again. Since then, they’ve cheated and lawfared their way to power – until the illegal immigrant tsunami negates the need for cheating. 2016 was the end of America,” posted Tami Marler, former Miss Oklahoma-turned-journalist, on X.
While the debate in India has to do with processes, the debate in the US is linked to immigration, a key issue in the November election. Also, while it is the right wing making the allegations, it is the right-of-centre party that is under attack in India.