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From: ran@ho95b.UUCP (RANeinast)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Re: what happens if Reagan dies?
Message-ID: <279@ho95b.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17-Dec-84 14:27:31 EST
Article-I.D.: ho95b.279
Posted: Mon Dec 17 14:27:31 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 18-Dec-84 02:55:13 EST
Organization: AT&T-Bell Labs, Holmdel, NJ
Lines: 93



>There was an article concerning this very issue in the December 9
>Des Moines Register by John Hyde.  I'll quote parts of it here.
>
>           WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Suppose Ronald Reagan were
>        to  die  today,  Dec.  9, 1984.  Who would become
>        president on Jan. 20, 1985?
>
>           The answer is: Nobody knows for sure.
>
>           Suppose Reagan were to die a month  from  now,
>        on  Jan.  8, 1985.  Who would become president on
>        Jan. 20?
>
>           The answer is: George Bush.
>
>           But  suppose  Reagan  were  to  die   sometime
>        between  Dec.  17,  1984,  and Jan. 7, 1985.  Who
>        would become president on Jan. 20?
>
>           The answer is: Walter Mondale.

>          . . .

>           Between Dec. 17 and Jan 7, however, the  elec-
>        toral  ballots remain sealed and uncounted and no
>        "president-elect" exists.  If Reagan were to  die
>        or  withdraw  during  that  period,  the election
>        would be thrown into  the  House  of  Representa-
>        tives.

>           The election in the House would be governed by
>        the  12th  Amendment,  which  requires  that  the
>        president be picked "from the persons having  the
>        highest  numbers  not exceeding three on the list
>        of those voted for  as  president..."  Since  the
>        1984  election  was  a two-man race in which only
>        Reagan and Mondale won any electoral  votes,  the
>        House's  only  constitutional  option would be to
>        elect Mondale.

>So that seems to be the story.  I guess we still  have  a  chance
>before January 7. :-)

>       				Roy Rubinstein

>       				csnet:   roy@iowa-state
>       				usenet:  ...umn-cs!isucs1!roy


Who the hell is this bozo (John Hyde)?  Does he know how to read?
Did he try doing some research, like looking at the Constitution?
Are all reporters this incompetent (from other observations, yes!)?

AMENDMENT XII.  "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 as 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 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;--The President of the Senate shall, in the
presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the
certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--The person having the
greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if
such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed;
and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the
highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for
as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately,
by ballot, the President." [It then goes on to discuss the VP, etc.]

Therefore, between Dec. 17 and Jan. 7, the ballots just sit there
uncounted.  So what?  When they are counted, they declare Reagan
the President-elect.  The House only gets into the act when the
Electors don't get a *majority*, definitely not the case here.

If Reagan were dead, then the 20th amendment would come into play.

"If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President,
the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become
President." [AMENDMENT XX, Section 3]

That is, Bush.


-- 

". . . and shun the frumious Bandersnatch."
       Robert Neinast (ihnp4!ho95b!ran)
       AT&T-Bell Labs