Trump’s VP and the Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution

American Thinker ^ | 06/16/2024 | Mark C. Ross

[SeekAndFind]

There’s a fair amount of speculation these days about whom Trump will choose as a running mate. Guessing games can often attract a crowd. The names of Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio, along with even Donald Trump, Jr., are being bandied about.

There is a catch. It’s called the Twelfth Amendment: “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.”

This particular clause did not change the Constitution. It was carried forward from Article II, Section 1 so as to maintain the same rule, in spite of the amendment, which changed the way in which the vice president was chosen. Originally, the veep was the second-place finisher in the Electoral College.

In the election of 1800, there was an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, so the House of Representatives chose Jefferson to be president and Burr to be vice president. Needless to say, they didn’t get along very well, so the Twelfth Amendment was ratified and took effect for the next election in 1804. On July 11 of that same year, Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

Just to be clear, it is still possible for both the president and vice president to live in the same state, but the electors of that state cannot vote for both of them. For states such as Wyoming and Alaska, this doesn’t matter all that much. Florida, however, has thirty electoral votes, and that ain’t chopped liver. Texas has thirty-eight electoral votes. When Texas governor George W. Bush chose him to be his running-mate, Dick Cheney promptly quit his job at Haliburton in Houston and scooted back up to Wyoming to register to vote.

[Mouton]

Bad move. He has a large Cuban backing a big deal in Miami. Florida with two dem referendums on the ballot is going to be a tougher vote than in the past. O

[irishjuggler]

“when Congress convened on January 3, 2001, the Senate was split 50-50. And with no Vice President having yet been elected, there would have been nobody to break the tie had the vote ended 50-50!”

But wasn’t Al Gore still technically VP at that point and wouldn’t he have been in a position to cast the tie-breaking vote, possibly for Joe Lieberman? In hindsight, a Bush-Lieberman administration might have been an improvement over what we got.

[MagaMatt]

There’s nobody from Florida he needs on the ticket anyway. We need another outsider, not a congress critter.