Posted on 02/18/2008 11:21:38 AM PST by Bear_Slayer
12th Amendment 12
(Ratified July 27, 1804)
The Electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;—The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;—The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.—The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice President, shall be the Vice President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States.
Just curious . . .
Yes. In fact they could even vote for a VP from the other party — or a 3rd party. But what is interesting is that if the Electoral college doesn’t have a majority 270 votes (for VP) then it goes to the Senate, which is constrained to choosing between the top two Electoral vote receivers.
Quite so. In fact, with several of the first POTUS the vice-presidency was given to the candidate who came in second place-- sort of a consolation prize, as it were. This was before the ascension of political parties at the turn on the 19th century.
This amendment does imply that someone could run as vice-president. The whole paired “running mate” thing is not enumerated in the constitution as far as I know.
Typically, the popular vote has the two tied together, so that in many states the Pres and VP get the same popular vote and the electors go for the pair.
Imagine someone running as VP as an independent and getting more EC votes than one of the paired “running mates”!
Yes to all.
It’s good for all of us to refresh our memory and explain to others how the Electoral College works, and, the fact that the Electoral College and its functioning is spelled out right in the Constitution.
Interesting - so what if independent conservatives put-forth a conservative nominee as VP?
If we did not like our GOP presidential nominee we could by chance force someon in the VP slot. . . .?
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