Every four twelvemonth , the United States plunges into a mire of political fear mongering , divisiveness and character assassination — deeply into that morass , anyway . We ’re , of path , blab out about thepresidential election . And every four age , masses ask : What happen if one of the candidates dies during the election ?
It ’s an awkward but reasonable enquiry . The passive , neat transfer of power is adefining traitof a working commonwealth , but the decease of a campaigner could hurl a twist in that mental process . It ’s happened once before in the United States in 1872 .
That ’s whenHorace Greeleyjoined a group of Republican dissenters who were against then - presidentUlysses S. Grant ’s reelection , and formed the Liberal Republican Party . The party nominated Greeley for President of the United States .
Greeley gain more than 40 percent of the pop voting , but before the Electoral College cope with , Greeley die . Three voter toast their votes for him anyway ; other electors cast their Greeley votes for underage candidates rather . When the ballot went to Congress , lawmaker pass a measure declare the Greeley vote invalid and certified the win for Grant . In the end , Grant was reelectedwith 286 electoral vote .
So what this mean is the backlash of a candidate ’s death reckon mainly onwhenit come . And at some leg in the election process , it ’s not really clear what would fall out .
Quick Civics Refresher
The United States is a representative democracy , not a direct democracy , so the the great unwashed do n’t in reality elect the Chief Executive . U.S. voter elect the members of theElectoral College , and the members of the Electoral College elect the Chief Executive .
So the presidential - election cognitive operation goes like this : The people vote , then the electors vote , then Congress count the ballot , then a new United States President is sworn into authority .
If a nominee dies before the general election but after they ’ve fasten their party ’s nominating speech , it ’s a relatively simple localisation : The at rest candidate ’s partypicks a replacement(who may or may not be the vice presidential candidate from the slate ) , and that replacement is on the voting on Election Day . Both the Republican and the Democratic party have rule about how their parties would fill the vacancy .
If a nominee croak after the general election , it gets more complicated .
After the People Have Spoken
If a candidate dies between the popular vote and the get together of the Electoral Collegethe parties take after the same processto satisfy the vacancy on the ticket . If the prospect that dies is on the winning just the ticket , it ’s still the political party ’s duty to supply a newfangled nominee their electors could vote into office .
But here , the political implications are more serious because it takes some of the power away from the people ; they do n’t get to vote again . The surrogate campaigner ’s name break down on the Electoral College ballot only , and their political party expects its electors to vote the switch candidate into bureau .
There ’s no Union law order the voter have to vote for the new nominee . Theoretically , if the candidate to whom they pledge their ballot pop off and their party does n’t name a favored successor , voter could vote for the party ’s VP campaigner , a third - party nominee or a leading competition within their own party . Butstate laws varyon the topic .
The President-Elect Problem
But what if thepresident - electdies — meaning the bring home the bacon presidential campaigner dies after the election but before the inaugural on Jan. 20 ?
The 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitutionprovidesthat if the Chief Executive - chosen dies , the rule of successiveness practice , and the vice - president - elect becomes the President of the United States - elect . Unfortunately , it ’s not clear when in the appendage a get ahead candidate becomes chair - elect .
The gain nominee definitely assume the deed of conveyance president - elect after Jan. 6 , when Congress officially counts the Electoral College votes and declares a winner . But a winning presidential candidate has never expire before being inaugurate , so Congress has never had to fix president - elect .
A Political Unknown
If the winning presidential candidate dies between Dec. 15 but before Jan. 6 , Congress would have to adjudicate whether to consider the votes regorge for them . If Congress chooses to formalise the votes , the laws of presidential chronological sequence are transmit out , and the deliver the goods candidate ’s vice president becomes chair - elect . If Congress chooses not to validate the right to vote , however , the doubt will be whether the living prospect has a bulk of the overall electoral balloting . If they do n’t , then the 12th Amendment allege the House of Representatives must elect the president from among the three campaigner with the most voter turnout .
In a two - person airstream , then , the ventilation candidate wins .
In 2020 , the people vote on Tuesday , Nov. 3 ; the Electoral College votes on Dec. 14 , 2020 ; and Congress counts the electoral voter turnout on Jan. 6 , 2021 . The new United States President and vice president will be usher in on Jan. 20 , 2021 .
