[Bear_Slayer]

Does 'Electors' mean 'electoral college" and if so, according to the wording could the EC elect the nominated president but then elect a different vice president than the one chosen as a running mate to the president?

Just curious . . .

[dark_lord]

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.

[yankeedame]

Does 'Electors' mean 'electoral college" and if so, according to the wording could the EC elect the nominated president but then elect a different vice president than the one chosen as a running mate to the president?

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.

[DBrow]

Originally, the VP was the runner-up, the one with the next highest EC tally. That changed in practice by parties putting up pairs of candidates to avoid having Bush for Pres and Kerry as VP- it’s bad for the parties (but would it be bad for the country?).

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”!

[bill1952]

Yes to all.