Commentary On Elections-Part Sixty-Eight (Session Six)

If the U.S. Constitution is to be followed, as it should be but it totally is not, electors from each congressional districts, from each state, and from each territory are supposed to individually cast their vote for candidates for President and Vice-President of the federal government of the United States.

When the preceding happens, since the number of eligible candidates for POTUS is greatly expanded, this creates the following two conditions.

1. The majority of the electors are unable to qualify an eligible candidate as POTUS.

2. In a very realistic scenario the majority of the states, comprised by members of the U.S. House Of Representatives, are unable to qualify an eligible candidate as POTUS.

If the majority of states are unable to choose this head executive of federal government, the U.S. Constitution is quite clear when it mandates that the newly chosen VPOTUS-elect is to act as President. It must be noted that the Vice-President-elect does not become the President but merely assumes the powers and duties of the presidency as Acting President until the next term.

Who then becomes the Vice-President if the selected Vice-President-elect has to act as President if all Presidential candidates fail to qualify? The 25th Amendment clearly states that the Vice-President becomes the President only when the President is removed from office or of his/her death or resignation. Its Section 2 clearly cites that whenever there is a Vice Presidential vacancy, the President shall nominate an individual who, upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress, becomes the Vice-President.

Due to the fact that when all Presidential candidates fail to become an eligible President because of lack of congressional support on a state level, the chosen VPOTUS-elect becomes Acting President only. The Acting President does not have the Constitutional authority, unlike the authority a VPOTUS who became POTUS has, to choose his/her replacement.

The U.S. Constitution is unclear who becomes Acting Vice-President, in case no Presidential candidate qualifies, since the currently chosen Vice-President-elect has to act as President. That document should be amended so that when this vacancy in the VP's office happens, the VPOTUS candidate who either received the second highest number of votes from members of the U.S. Senate is selected to serve as Acting Vice-President for the duration of its term.

The preceding is preferable than the Acting President choosing the Acting VPOTUS. This is also preferable than the members of the U.S. Senate choosing the Acting VPOTUS who earlier belonged to a field of candidates that the electors chose from and later was not subject to voting by that legislative body. In other words a VPOTUS candidate who did not earlier qualify for a Senate vote because he or she were not in the Top Two should later not be allowed to be voted on by U.S. Senate members.

If the Acting President chose or U.S. Senate attempted to choose for the 2nd time the Acting VPOTUS, that would be indicative of Imperial Democracy. That measure would confer either Acting President or the U.S. Senate too much power. It would in accordance to the ideals of Representative Democracy for the candidate who either received the second highest number of elector votes or the second highest number of U.S. Senate ballots, in the Senate's first vote, to act as Vice-President for the entire following term.

Cliff Notes Version: If the majority of electors or majority of states cannot choose the POTUS, the VPOTUS becomes the Acting POTUS.

Since the U.S. Constitution does not specify how the Acting VPOTUS will be chosen, the VPOTUS candidate who either received the second highest number of votes from members of the U.S. Senate is selected to serve as Acting Vice-President for the duration of its term.