[EL] 3 Electoral College members may pass on GOP ticket / Possiblity of Ryan becoming President instead of Romney

[John Koza]

Electors in the Electoral College vote separately for President and Vice
President (under the 12th Amendment).  Thus, if the Republican Party has a
majority in the Electoral College, the Republican electors would probably
routinely elect Paul Ryan as Vice President. Thus, the vice-presidential
election would NOT be thrown into the U.S. Senate (as incorrectly suggested
by today's AP story by Mike Baker).  

 

Then, if a sufficient number of Republican electors defected from Romney in
the Electoral College, Romney could be deprived of an absolute majority in
the Electoral College (270 votes), and the presidential election would be
thrown into the U.S. House of Representatives.  In the House, voting is by
states (with each state having one vote), and tied delegations can't vote.
However, an absolute majority of 26 votes is required to elect the
President, regardless of the number of tied delegations. If the House cannot
choose a President by inauguration day, the duly elected Vice-President
(Ryan) becomes acting President (potentially for four years).

 

AP STORY LINK:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdGQC3sPvW6fAJ9kF3DXqWx4nv
nw?docId=d88bb39bc47949b89cfe400d7b07bece 

 

 

Dr. John R. Koza

Box 1441

Los Altos Hills, California 94023 USA

Phone: 650-941-0336

Fax: 650-941-9430

Email: john at johnkoza.com

URL: www.johnkoza.com 

URL: www.NationalPopularVote.com

 

From: Derek Muller [mailto:derek.muller at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 8:46 AM
To: Election Law
Subject: [EL] 3 Electoral College members may pass on GOP ticket

 

>From the AP here
<http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdGQC3sPvW6fAJ9kF3DXqWx4n
vnw?docId=d88bb39bc47949b89cfe400d7b07bece> .

I assume it's quite state-specific as to what power the parties have to
replace electors as this point--indeed, recall the Sherrod Brown incident
<http://electionlawblog.org/archives/002241.html>  in 2004 that was averted
because he resigned and the party could select a replacement. But I thought
it was worth flagging. There have been, after all, incidents of canvassing
electors after the election but before the electors cast their votes; and
the surveys of Robert M. Alexander, "Lobbying the Electoral College: The
Potential for Chaos" in Electoral College Reform (Gary Bugh ed. 2010),
provide for some great detail.

Best,

Derek

Derek T. Muller
Associate Professor of Law
Pepperdine University School of Law
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Malibu, CA 90263
+1 310-506-7058 <tel:%2B1%20310-506-7058> 
SSRN Author Page: http://ssrn.com/author=464341
<https://webmail.pepperdine.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=29ae10151b4a4ac692bb6f658bc
0bf17&URL=http%3a%2f%2fssrn.com%2fauthor%3d464341> 

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