Tuesday, February 16, 2010

XII Amendment


(fm the BC thread "The Great Escape")

Guessed,
he constitution forbids the President and Vice-President from being from the same state,

That is a popular fallacy. All the Constitution prohibits is a Presidential Elector voting for both a President and Vice-President from their own state. That means that in the hypothetical case under discussion Electors from Indiana would not be able to vote for both candidates at the same time but everyone else could. The first sentence of the XII Amendment follows, bold faced where relevant;
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; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate.
It is an ideé fixe of mine that the Electoral College should be improved and made a standing body rather than abolished as Progressives push for.

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