Curbing Contingent Elections

Abstract

Contingent U.S. presidential elections are those in which the Electoral College fails to elect a President and (or) a Vice President, and Congress is to elect either executive or both. Contingent elections of a Vice President may emerge independently of whether a President is elected in the Electoral College. This is possible due to the principle of voting separately for President and for Vice President in the Electoral College. This chapter considers all types of contingent elections, including those in which even Congress fails to elect either executive or both by Inauguration Day. This chapter offers an analysis of whether the Presidential Succession Act can govern contingent elections in which neither executive is elected by Inauguration Day. It also discusses whether the existing constitutional provisions and Federal Statutes allow one to avoid election stalemates and shows that this depends on how some phrases from the Twelfth and the Twentieth Amendments are construed.