The Use Of Electors-Clarification Part Eight

 

The Use Of Electors-Clarification Part Eight 

The choosing of the President and Vice-President by the proposed two different set of electors has to be governed by the stipulations in the current 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

A majority of states' choices, given by its electors, is needed to choose both the President and Vice-President. The head executives have to receive this mandate in order to be deemed fit to occupy their respective offices. 

If no Presidential candidate gets the majority of states to choose him or her, then the House Of Representatives will choose the President out of the Top Three candidates with each state expressing its choice. A majority of states' choices, given by its electors, is still needed to choose the President from these three candidates. 

If no candidate, out of the narrowed field of three, gets that majority of states to choose him/her, then the chosen Vice-President acts as President and occupies the office for its full term. 

Since a vacancy will arise in the office of Vice-Presidency if this event occurs, then according to current Congress-made law the Acting President can unilaterally choose the Acting Vice-President to serve for the entire term. This law must be repealed. Instead it should be the individual who receives the 2nd highest number of votes who should become the Acting Vice-President. This measure should be incorporated in the U.S. Constitution. 

The reasons for the preceding are simple.

1. The Speaker Of The House of Representatives should not serve as Acting Vice-President because succession should only happen when there are vacancies in both the offices of head executives and also when the newly chosen head executives (President and Vice-President) are both serving their terms in their respective offices. Succession should only be utilized in case of highly extenuating circumstances. Lack of qualification during the lame duck session is not to be considered as such. 

2. The chosen Vice-President who acts as President should not have the authority to unilaterally choose the Vice-President. That confers to that office, held that too by the Acting President, too much authority and centralization of power.

3. A runner-up in a specific race has much more legitimacy in serving in that specific office than anyone else. 

If no Vice-President candidate gets the majority of votes by their electors to choose him or her, then the Top Three vote-getting candidates are subject to an election runoff. The candidate who receives a majority of electors' votes becomes the Vice-President. If none of these three candidates are still not able to obtain the majority of electors' votes, then the United States Senate will choose the Vice-President out of the Top Two vote-getting candidates in the election runoff. If there is a tie between these two candidates, then the outgoing Vice-President should cast his/her choice to break the tie. 

In the event both the chosen President and the chosen Vice-President are not able or eligible to serve during the lame duck session, the US Constitution erroneously gives U.S Congress the authority to pass laws that govern the choosing of both head executives. The U.S. Constitution should instead be
re-written so that this document specifically states the course of action needed when this event occurs. 

When both chosen head executives are unable and/or ineligible to serve during the lame duck session, the U.S. House of Representatives should choose the President from the list of the next three top vote-getting candidates with a majority vote for the winning candidate in each state. If a candidate for President cannot get a majority, then the United States Senate's choice for Vice-President, out of its next two top vote-getting candidates, serves as the Acting President till the end of the President's term. The outgoing Vice-President would break any tie if a tie occurred. Also in lieu of this event, the Vice-President candidate who was not chosen as Acting President by the United Senate would proceed to serve as Acting Vice-President till the end of the Vice-President's term.

In the event either the President-elect or Vice-President-elect is unable and/or ineligible to serve during the lame duck session, the U.S. Constitution should be specific in providing remedy so that the discretionary authority of the state legislative branch is not unduly expanded. The U.S. Constitution should cite that if the chosen and eligible President-elect is declared unable to serve during this period, then the Vice-President-elect serves as Acting President till the end of the President's term. The candidate who received the 2nd highest number of Vice-President Electors' votes becomes the Acting Vice-President till the end of the Vice-President's term. If the chosen and eligible Vice-President-elect is declared unable to serve during this period, the candidate who received the 2nd highest number of Vice-President Electors' votes also becomes the Acting Vice-President till the end of the Vice-President's term.   

For all U.S. Senate and House Of Representatives voting activities, a quorum of 2/3rds of the total number of its members is needed.

The reason why certain revisions of the U.S. Constitution are needed is because the federal government plays a different role now than when the U.S. Constitution was written. Centralization of power should be kept to a minimum. Moreover, giving U.S. Congress the authority to decide certain issues, such as replacements for President and Vice-President in case both are unavailable and/or ineligible, gives the federal legislative branch too much discretionary power. Since the federal government became the sovereign authority since the end of the U.S. Civil War, it is important to properly confine its authority.