The 20th Amendment says that if the President elect dies, the Vice President
elect will become President at the time of the inauguration.  (Until that time,
of course, the incumbent President is still President.)



Paul Ryan wrote:

A playwright friend of mine has a hypothetical election law question I
agreed to pose to list serve members.  In the event that a presidential
candidate won the general election but decided on the day after the election
not to take office, who would become the president?  I assume it would be
the presidential candidate's vice presidential running mate, but am not
familiar enough with the workings of the Electoral College to be confident
in this assumption.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

Paul Ryan

********************
Paul Ryan
Project Director

Center for Governmental Studies
10951 West Pico Blvd., Suite 120
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Ph. (310) 470-6590 ext. 115
Fax (310) 475-3752
pryan@cgs.org
http://www.cgs.org

********************