|
Sponsored Links
This article is part of the series
United States Constitution The Twelfth Amendment (Amendment XII) to the United States Constitution replaced Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, which pertained to Presidential elections. That clause had stated that each member of the U.S. Electoral College would cast two votes for the President, with the person receiving a majority of the Electoral Votes becoming the President and the runner-up becoming the Vice President. Problems with this system were demonstrated by the elections of 1796 and 1800. The Twelfth Amendment, proposed by the U.S. Congress on December 9, 1803 and ratified by the requisite number of state legislatures on June 15, 1804, required electors to cast two distinct votes one for President and another for Vice President. If there was more than one individual who received a vote from a majority of the electors, the House of Representatives would choose from amongst the two candidates. If no individual had a majority, then the House of Representatives would choose from the five individuals with the greatest number of electoral votes. The choosing of the Vice President was a simpler process. Whichever candidate received the greatest number of votes, except for the one elected President, became Vice President. The Vice President, unlike the President, did not require the votes of a majority of electors. In the event of a tie for second place between multiple candidates, the Senate chose one of them to be Vice President. Each Senator cast one vote. It was not specified in the Constitution whether the sitting Vice President could cast a tie-breaking vote for Vice President under the original formula.
|
Twelfth Amendment To The United States Constitution Subcategories
Twelfth Amendment To The United States Constitution Articles
|
|
