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The Rights of These United States: the 12th Amendment
The twelfth amendment is a rather long one. As such I will attempt to keep it as brief as possible while not sacrificing the
explanation of it. Never the less here is the twelfth amendment ?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 with 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 of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of 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. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each
state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority
of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right
of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as
in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as
Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no
person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the
purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a
choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United
States.?
Is it just me or did that seem to ramble on and be very confusing? So essentially we have how the president is actually elected.
As I have done with previous amendments I will go one section at a time. ?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 with themselves?.? So
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all this means is that ?electors? will meet in their respective states and vote for who becomes the next president. One of the electors
in any given state cannot be from the state the they are representing. Yes, this is how the electoral college came into being. Right
here in the first line of the twelfth amendment. There has of course been other legislation to finalize what the electoral college will
be comprised of but this is where it began. But, I diverge, back to the twelfth amendment. This line also says that the electors,
whoever they are, will vote by ballot for the president and vice president.
Up next ??they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as
Vice-President?? All this line says is that the president and vice president will be voted for in separate and distinct ballots.
??and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the
number of votes for each?? So now we have that every person voted for to be the next president and vice president will have their
name written down. Then each vote for that person will be tallied and counted.
??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?? Once the count is complete the electors will then sign, certify and send that list to the President of the
Senate. In a Sealed manner, at the time this amendment was written and signed into law that was an envelope. However, with the
advent of email, it is more expedient to just email the list so I would imagine that is how the list is transmitted.
??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?? After the President of the Senate receives all of the sealed and certified ballot tallies he or she will, in
the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all of the ballot tallies. Once they are all opened or he/ she can do this
while they are opening them. They will basically tally the tallies. Or in other words they will add up all of those votes for president
and vice president.
??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?? Once all of the ballot tallies are added together the person that has the highest number of votes for
president will be the next president. As long as that person has a majority of the appointed elector's votes.
Speaker-elect Paul Ryan (R-WI) bids goodbye to outgoing Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
??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?? After the ballot tallies have
been added together if there is no clear winner, meaning that no one presidential candidate has a majority of the electorate vote then
the house of Representatives will immediately vote for the president, by ballot. The only ones that will be eligible for this vote are
those presidential candidates that made the top three on the list of candidates.
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Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) & current Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI)
This part describes how the House of Representatives will vote for the President if it comes to their choice. ??But in choosing the
President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall
consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice?.? For
simplicities sake I will address this part in a somewhat reverse order. For the president to be selected and voted to be the next
president there must be a majority vote for one candidate. The vote will take place via a ?quorum?, that means that it will essentially
be a smaller committee and not the entire house of representatives while still maintaining a majority vote. The quorum will be no
less than two-thirds of all the state representatives. Each state may only cast one vote. That means that all of the representatives from
any given state must decide together who their state will vote for. Just to point out this has not even happened since 1824 when
President John Quincy Adams was voted in as the sixth president of America.
??And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the
fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional
disability of the President...? That last part seems rather simple and straight forward to me. This means that if by March fourth of the
next calendar year the House of Representatives has not been able to assemble the ?quorum? I spoke of or to vote in by majority
who the next president will be then the current vice president will act as the president. Much the same as outlined by the twentieth
amendment. Also if the president elect, that's the term for the person that has been elected to be our next president, is unable to
perform the duties of president regardless of the reason the current vice president acts as president until the president elect is able to
perform the duties of president.
??The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the
whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall
choose the Vice-President?? Basically it's the same thing for vice president as it is for president. Whichever candidate has a majority
of the votes from the appointed electors then they are the next vice president. The major two differences here is that 1) instead of the
house of representatives choosing the vice president it is the Senate and 2) only the top two choices, as established by the list of total
votes for the vice presidential candidates by the electors are eligible to be voted for by the Senate.
??a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be
necessary to a choice?? This part is the same as it is for the president. Two-thirds of the Senators will form a quorum and vote for
who will be selected as vice president. Again majority rule.
??But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.?
The last line of the twelfth amendment states that if you are ineligible for the office of the president then you are ineligible for the
office of vice president as well.
Well, that was considerably more complex than the previous eleven amendments have been. But, it is also a vastly more complex
topic.
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