[EL] Does Gary Johnson Not Understand How the 12th Amendment Works?

[Sean Parnell]

It’s a little more complicated than that, Rick. Each state gets a single vote, and only the top 3 candidates are eligible to receive votes. Johnson is apparently presuming he’d be one of those three. 

 

I ran the numbers a few months back and Republicans control 30 delegations, meaning there are possibly 30 votes for Trump. But if a state deadlocks – say, 4-4 – then no vote is cast. So if the 2017 House has fewer Republican-controlled delegations (either tied or flipped to the Democrats) and there are a handful of states (Utah comes to mind) that are GOP-controlled but unwilling to vote for Trump, then he could still be held below 26 – the magic number to be elected by the House.

 

His musings about the “first ballot” have more to do with political perceptions, “momentum,” and the like – he’s saying if neither Clinton nor Trump win 26 states on the first ballot, then there’s a possibility the House turns to him. I wouldn’t put money on it, but it’s as reasonable a scenario as anything else that’s happened this year.

 

 

Sean Parnell

President, Impact Policy Management LLC

Alexandria, Virginia

571-289-1374

sean at impactpolicymanagement.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84545> Does Gary Johnson Not Understand How the 12th Amendment Works?

Posted on  <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=84545> July 23, 2016 3:26 pm by  <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen

>From the  <http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/gary-johnson-the-third-party-candidate> Ryan Lizza New Yorker story:

“If it gets thrown to the House of Representatives and it goes beyond one ballot, I could be President,” Johnson said, smiling at the absurdity of the idea. “Because, if it goes beyond one ballot, Democrats are not going to cross over the line to change to Trump, and Republicans are not going to go over the line to support Clinton. They’re going to have to compromise, and I’d be the compromise.”

The 12th amendment provides that if no one gets a majority for President the House votes by state, and it is hard to imagine the Republican not chosen by the House.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20160725/72582ea3/attachment.html>