As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
No one has mentioned just what would take place if Hillary Rodham Clinton dies before the election, or if she goes spasm again and the elite of the Democratic party perform the coup de grace.
This is the reality of it all, and you might be surprised that Slate was lusting over this scenario in 2008 in wondering what would happen with Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.
But first a Constitutional interpretation which matters.
If a presidential candidate dies after the party convention and before the election, particularly before ballots are printed, the party can select a new person to represent the party on the ticket. The choice will depend on the party's own rules. As the election nears, the situation gets more sticky, because elections take time to plan. Practically speaking, ballots must be printed, and if there is not enough time to do that, the election can still go on, though with the name of a now-dead candidate on the ballot - state law should dictate how such ballots would be handled. Vermont law (17 VSC 2475), for example, states that new ballots will be printed - but if the death occurs near enough to Election Day, it may not be possible to print new ballots.
While near-election death might be a problem for a Senator or a judge, where the voters are electing a specific person, in the case of the presidential election, the buffer of the electoral college would allow the election to continue.
To do a layman explanation, that thing which all have been screaming about in getting rid of in the Electoral College, is actually the salvation of America, because the sitting image Obama can NOT stop an election, and in theory Congress might attempt to set an election day back to place a candidate who is alive on the ballot, but it is the Electoral College which is the buffer that allows the election to proceed.
Literally, and legally, death or incapacitation can not save Hillary Clinton nor stop a Presidential election in these disUnited States.
Now for Slate:
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Each party has its own protocol for this scenario, but in neither case does the running mate automatically take over the ticket. If John McCain were to die before the election, the rules of the Republican Party authorize the Republican National Committee to fill the vacancy, either by reconvening a national convention or by having RNC state representatives vote. The new nominee must receive a majority vote to officially become the party candidate. If Barack Obama were to die before the election, the Democratic Party's charter and bylaws state that responsibility for filling that vacancy would fall to the Democratic National Committee, but the rules do not specify how exactly the DNC would go about doing that. (Congress could also pass a special statute and push back Election Day, giving the dead candidate's party time to regroup.)
In addition there is this legal reality concerning the Delegates to the Electoral College:
if the candidate dies between the general election on Nov. 4 but before the Electoral College votes on Dec. 15. There's no federal law that mandates how electors must cast their votes; theoretically, if the candidate to whom they were pledged dies and their party has not made a preferred successor clear, electors can vote for their party's VP candidate, a third-party candidate, or a leading preconvention contender within their own party. Under this scenario, however, individual state laws have the potential to make things murky, given that each state has the power to determine exactly how its electoral votes are to be cast and distributed.
I had wondered about the names on ballots and the deadlines of placing people living on State ballots as Presidents as there is a deadline, but according to these rules set down, once a Party places their candidate on a ballot in a State, that is the ballot which proceeds the election as the election can not be halted. New ballots can be printed, the Party Committees can nominate replacements if time, but no election will stop. Whatever is on the ballot on November 8th, will be what is voted on. It then falls to the crapshoot of the Electoral College Delegates.
Seriously, a Cadaver Candidate would still have to win the election for their delegates to be on the Electoral College to vote. When Donald Trump wins, it is his delegates who would cast the votes, not Mrs. Clintons.
It will be thrown to the Electoral College in a most interesting solution for if the Cadaver stole it, would a peace prize to save America from anarchy be Donald Trump as President or Vice President, if this is set up for theft in a close election.
Once again another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter teaching you things which no on else will.
agtG
