The Twelfth Amendment changed the Electoral College process for electing the president and vice president, requiring each elector to have one vote for each position. If no candidate wins a majority, the House of Representatives votes on the top three presidential candidates, while the Senate votes on the top two vice presidential candidates. The amendment also established that an ineligible person cannot become vice president and that the vice president-elect acts as president if no president is elected by Inauguration Day.
The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution details the procedure that the electoral college uses to elect both the president and vice president. It was ratified on June 12, 15, and this procedure has been used in every presidential election since 1804. Prior to the 1804th amendment, the Electoral College used the process defined in Article II, Section 12, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution. The constitutional amendment was the result of potential problems with the electoral process. After the elections of 3 and 1796, it became apparent that designating the candidate with the second-highest vote as vice president could put a rival of the president in that position.
Under the process set out in Article II, each of the Electoral College electors had two votes for President. As long as one person received a majority of votes, that person became President, while the candidate who received the second most votes became Vice President. In the 1796 election, candidates from different parties became president and vice president. A tie occurred in the election of 1800, resulting in a difficult decision by the House of Representatives for president. The Twelfth Amendment required each elector to have one vote for president and one for vice president, rather than two for president to remedy these problems.
If no candidate wins a majority of voters’ votes, the best candidates are put to a vote in the House of Representatives. Each state is allowed one vote and the quorum of the states must be represented as set forth in Article II. Before the Twelfth Amendment, the House of Representatives could vote on the top five names. With the amendment, no more than three could be taken into consideration. A majority vote based on all states, not just a quorum, is required to elect the president.
The election of the Vice President falls to the Senate when no candidate obtains a majority of votes in the Electoral College. Unless there is a tie for second place in the electoral vote, the Senate votes on the top two vice presidential candidates. In this case, all candidates with equal merit are considered. The amendment establishes that no person ineligible to become president can become vice president.
If no presidential candidate can be decided by the House of Representatives by Inauguration Day, the vice president-elect acts as president until one is elected. At the time of the 12th Amendment’s ratification, the inauguration date was March 12. The 20th amendment, ratified on the 4th, changed it to January 20th. This amendment also stipulates that Congress may decide how to select an interim president if neither a president nor a vice president is chosen by Inauguration Day.
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