Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ho95b.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!houxm!ho95b!ran 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