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Part 2: US presidential election FAQs
Why do Americans always have to do things differently?!
Continued from Part I.
And will they become President straight away?
No, from November 5th to January 20th 2009, they'll be the President-elect until they're inaugurated in January.
What happens if neither candidate gets that?
It's extremely unlikely, but if neither candidate has an electoral college majority, the state delegations in the House of Representatives pick the winner, in other words if Florida's 25 congressmen consist of 13 Democrats and 12 Republicans, that's one vote for Obama. Also, the Vice President is chosen by the Senate. In the event of a tie in the Senate, the current Vice President has the casting vote.
So Dick Cheney could end up having to pick the next Vice President?!
In theory, yes.
Speaking of which, what if one of the candidates gets shot in the face and has to pull out before the election?
The candidate will stay on the ballot dead, alive or shot in the face, but after that there are two options: Either replace the candidate during the official Electoral College election in December, which might be considered cheating, or replace the candidate using the 25th Amendment (the amendment dealing with accession to the Presidency) once in office. In other words, assuming John McCain wins the election but then God forbid something happens him a few weeks later, he'd technically be elected posthumously by the electoral college, but then immediately replaced by President Sarah Palin (Lord have mercy), who'd then have to pick a Vice President under the 25th Amendment, who would have to be approved by Congress.
You said about the Electoral College electing candidates in December, but the election is in November?
Yup, the college is composed of people. Every state will have party representatives go to Washington in December to cast their votes on behalf of that state. So for instance, if Wisconsin votes for Obama in November, ten Democrats from that state would go to the capital in December to represent that.
What if somebody thinks they're being smart and vote for, say, JFK instead of Obama like they're supposed to?
Those people are called faithless electors. Even though they can technically vote for whoever they like, since they're representing their party they can get in a lot of trouble for breaking ranks. That said, generally it's done when breaking ranks would have no effect on the election to make a point, for instance Ronald Reagan got one vote in 1976, and John Edwards got one in 2004.
By: Paddy Duffy (SpunOut.ie Political Correspondent Extraordinaire)
Photo: Cheryl Senter
Wanna learn more?
Rock the Vote (America)
www.america.gov
