Okay...
In November, the citizens (and I am sure a few illegal aliens) did not vote for the president. We do not vote for presidents. Instead we voted for electors. The US Constitution directs that electors will be selected as the state’s legislatures’ decide. All states now choose electors via popular vote because the legislatures in the various states have decided this is the method they wanted to use to select the electors.
When we cast our votes, we are actually casting our votes for a slate of electors, chosen by the party of the candidate that we “voted” for.
Obama has not yet been elected president. Only the electors loyal to him have been selected. Obama is not president, or even president elect yet. He can be president elect until he is elected in mid December.
In Dec (on the 15th) the electors cast their votes. The votes are sealed and deliver to the President of the Senate by 24 Dec and counted by a joint session of Congress on the 6th of Jan (the 8th this election for some reason). Everyone knows who is going to win because the electors selected by the parties are extreme party loyalists.
If Obama is declared ineligible before the electors cast their votes, then the electors could simply not vote for him. Since the majority of electors are democRAT loyalists, it is extremely unlikely they would say, “Hey lets vote for the republican.” That ain’t gonna happen.
Instead, the electors would likely vote for either Biden (God help us) or Hillary. They are not bound by law (except in a few states) to vote for the popular vote winner in their state. They can legally vote for whom they want, but being party loyalists, they are not going to vote for the opposition.
If Obama is declared ineligible after the 15th of Dec, then it is likely the electorial college would have to meet again to re-vote, but their will not be another national election. The national election was to choose the Electoral College which has been done.
If Obama is ineligible and the Electoral College has not chosen a president, Biden would act as President until a President was qualified.
The 20th amendment details the issues if Obama is “elected” by the electoral college but cannot take the oath.
If he is ineligible and he has already been sworn in, he would be removed and Biden would ascend to the presidency.
McCain lost this election and will not be president.
Yup, good post. Totally agree with your conclusions. They will vote for Hillary. As bad as that would be at LEAST it would be constitutional.
Ok - agree with most everything you stated but have a few questions around some minor points.
Pre electoral college disqualification
Since the electors are voted on for both president and vice then can the electors chose a vice in place of the presidential candidate. Or is the vice candidate prevented from being voted on in the presidential vote as they were on the vice slate and not the presidential slate?
Key question: Are the electors for president only allowed to vote for candidates that were listed for president on the ballot?
If that is the case couldn’t we see McCain/Biden as a potential?
Post electoral college disqual prior to inauguration- similar question:
Biden would be the VP-elect and as such: Would he be allowed to be voted on in the EC/house or would his elect status disallow his availability for the role or similar to the previous would his not being listed as a presidential candidate prevent the EC from voting for him as president? Though I could see Biden “acting” as president until the next election cycle EC qualifies a candidate. oof.
Of course if the EC doesn’t decide then it goes to the house - and the question there is don’t we have enough states to carry since each state only gets one vote? And wouldn’t that then end up with McCain/Biden?
Post Inaug is the easy part - follow the line of succession.