What happens?

The whole thing with those "skinheads" who wanted to assassinate Barack Obama opens up a very interesting Constitutional question...What happens if a candidate or president elect die before the election or entering office?

Now understand that I am glad that the FBI thwarted the attempt on Mr. Obama's life. Whether I am for a candidate or not I do not wish him or her harm in anyway. But this situation does make for some interesting discussions about our Constitution around the water cooler or coffee pot.

So let's delve into our Constitution and see if'n we can find an answer.

First...there are several different cases that must be explored here. Some are rather straight forward. Others are much more interesting.

First...what happens if a party candidate for president dies before the election?

In this case what happens is determined by the individual party. Most likely the parties would select their VP candidates as the candidate for president and a new VP would then be selected. But actually there are no hard and fast rules for this case. But it is handled by the individual party and its own rules. There is also the question of the laws of the individual states if the candidate dies so close to the election that new ballots cannot be prepared and put in place. We must remember that our Constitution does not allow for postponement or moving the date of a General Election.

Okay...so its after November 4th. We have an elected president correct?

Actually no we do not. We do not have a president-elect until after the electoral college casts their votes (which happens on December 15th this year) and that vote is certified by the joint session of the House and Senate (which always occurs on January 6th).

So if a candidate dies between November 4th and December 15th we are in the same basic situation we are in if the candidate dies before November 4th. Again there are no provisions in the Constitution for this situation. There are no provisions for a "do over" election process. It would seem at that point that the party involved would have to come up with a new candidate or candidates prior to December 15th when the electoral college votes.

Of course who the electors vote for could be open to interpretation. Actually that falls back to the laws of the individual states. What you could easily end up with is a situation where no candidate receives 270 electors and the whole thing could go to House of Representatives.

So what if the candidate dies between December 15th and January 6th when the House and Senate certify the electors?

This is a very murky period. The problem is that the Constitution is silent as to just when the winning candidates become the President-elect and the VP-elect. It uses the titles without ever defining them. Do we have a President-elect when the electors vote or is it when Congress certifies the vote and declares the winner?

If we assume the former then there is no problem; the Twentieth Amendment controls. In that case, the Vice President-elect shall become President on Inauguration Day.

However, if there is no President-elect or VP-elect until Congress counts the votes and declares the winners on January 6 then I have no idea what happens. Can you say Supreme Court?

Once the election is certified by the joint session of the House and Senate on January 6th, the 20th Amendment takes over and, as stated before, the VP-elect would become the president-elect and take the oath of office.

Now please note that I am not a lawyer. I never played a lawyer on TV and no...I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Select last night. So I could have this all screwed up.

I just thought it would be fun to look into it.

Oh...and in case you would like to take you own trip through the Constitution...here is the link.

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am20