welcome to the ancestral findings podcast
the 12th amendment to the u.s constitution gives us the modern way that presidential elections are
conducted the first four u.s presidential elections were conducted differently and
resulted in some issues between politically opposed presidents and vice presidents this
amendment still governs how u.s presidential elections are conducted to this day [Music]
the 12th amendment to the u.s constitution gives the proper procedure to electing the
president and vice president of the united states it was a replacement for the clause
in the original constitution that set out how the electoral college was originally supposed to work
the amendment was proposed in december of 1803 by congress
and ratified by three-fourths of the state legislators one of several ways
the constitution provides for adding an amendment to it in june of 1804 the new rules were in place
in time for the 1804 presidential election between incumbent thomas jefferson and his opponent
charles pickney this was the fifth overall presidential election for the new united states
this amendment has ruled all presidential elections since that one what does it say
the 12th amendment reads 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 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 has 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 the 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
what does it mean this amendment changed the way presidential elections were conducted
originally each elector in the electoral college cast two votes there was no distinction made
between these votes and to whether they were for president or vice president
the candidate receiving the most electoral votes was made president
and the one with the second most electoral votes was made vice president if there was a
tie the house of representatives would vote amongst themselves to select the president
and vice president there was no president and vice president ticket who ran together before
the 12th amendment because the 1796 and 1800 elections ended up electing presidents and vice
presidents who were political opponents and thus usually working against each other while in office
congress felt that a change to the way these two offices were elected was needed the 12th amendment
was written and it changed things to the way presidential elections are conducted today [Music]
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