Dead Presidents. Dead Presidents-Elect. Dead Popular-Vote-Winner-Not-Yet-President-Elect

Take out your Civics book class and turn to Amendment. That’s right after Civil Service and You. Since the whacko nut jobs are coming out of the woodwork, and McCain is old, it pays to be reassured that if the unthinkable happens and the man who we want as President dies, the Constitution has it covered. Part of the 20th Amendment and the 25th Amendment come into play. But not really so the whole thing falls to Congress!

Remember: we don’t elect the President/Vice President. We elect electors who elect the President. That happens on November 4th and probably for a couple weeks after because of voting machine hack/malfunction/fraud.

Preferred timetable:

November 4, voters elect electors.

December 15, the Electoral College meets and they decides who will run our government.

January 6, Congress meets and certifies the Electoral College.

January 20, the President is sworn in and takes over.

Scenario 1: Election held, Electoral College elects President, President dies before January 20.

Resolution: Vice-president is sworn in as President.

Scenario 2: Election held, winner of popular vote dies before December 20.

Resolution: Feces hits fan.

There’s no federal law that mandates how electors must cast their votes; theoretically, if the candidate to whom they were pledged dies and their party has not made a preferred successor clear, electors can vote for their party’s VP candidate, a third-party candidate, or a leading preconvention contender within their own party.

In summary: it will be one borked up mess if the President-elect dies before the Electoral College meets. Seems to me the smart thing is to lock the winner of the popular vote up at Camp David until December 15.

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2 Responses to “Dead Presidents. Dead Presidents-Elect. Dead Popular-Vote-Winner-Not-Yet-President-Elect”


  1. Gravatar Icon 1 Mauigirl
    OMG, I didn’t know that. I figured the VP would be elected. Let’s hope, God forbid, if McCain/Palin were to win and he died before the Electoral College voted, that the GOP would have enough sense to pick someone other than Palin!

    MauigirlĀ“s last blog post..A Cat’s Eye View

  2. Gravatar Icon 2 GoingLikeSixty
    @Mauigirl: same here. I didn’t know the answer: love The Google.

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