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This article covers subjects specific to the 2020 general election. It has not been updated to reverberate subsequent developments.
Click hither for more information most our 2020 election coverage.

The Twentieth Amendment to the U.South. Constitution governs what happens if the president-elect dies before taking office. In that case, the vice president-elect becomes the president-elect. It is an open legal question whether a candidate becomes the president-elect after winning a majority of the vote in the Electoral College or only after Congress counts the vote.[ane] The Balloter College is scheduled to vote on December 14, 2020, and Congress is scheduled to count the vote on January 6, 2021.[ii]

If the president-elect does not die only becomes incapacitated, he could voluntarily transfer authority to the vice-president after Inauguration 24-hour interval. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment lays out this process. If a president submits a written statement that he "is unable to discharge the powers and duties" of the office, so the vice president becomes acting president. The president can regain the powers and duties of the presidency by submitting a written statement that he is capable of serving again.[three]

The Twenty-5th Amendment too addresses the possibility that the president becomes incapacitated simply is unable or unwilling to leave office. In that state of affairs, if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet declare the president unfit to serve, the vice president becomes acting president. The amendment also outlines how the president tin can reassume the powers of the presidency. If the president declares that he is capable of serving, the chiffonier and vice president must respond within four days. If this latter group holds that the president is nonetheless unfit to serve, Congress must vote on whether to reinstate the president. The president volition exist reinstated unless a two-thirds majority of both chambers votes confronting this.[3]

Next question: What happens if a presidential nominee becomes incapacitated earlier the election? (2020)


The 2020 election took identify against a backdrop of uncertainty. Our readers had questions about what to wait in elections at all levels of government, from the casting of ballots to the certification of final results. Ballotpedia'due south 2020 Election Help Desk was designed to answer those questions.

More frequently asked questions about the 2020 ballot

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  • Full general election data
    • Who runs elections in the The states?
    • Why practise states have different election rules?
    • What methods do states use to prevent election fraud?
    • Do you accept to vote for everything on your election?
    • What happens if y'all marker outside the lines or utilise the wrong pen/pencil?
    • What is a spoiled ballot?
    • What is a write-in candidate?
    • How tin I check the status of my election?
    • Can I accept a ballot selfie?
  • Presidential election
    • What happens if a presidential candidate declares victory in the 2020 election earlier results are final?
    • Can presidential candidates win the election if they have already conceded?
    • What are the steps and deadlines for electing the President of the United States?
    • What happens if there is a necktie in the Balloter College?
    • What are faithless electors in the Electoral College?
    • What happens if a presidential nominee becomes incapacitated before the election?
    • Can members of Congress object to Electoral College results?
  • Processing and counting absentee/post-in ballots
    • What is the life bike of an absentee/mail-in ballot?
    • What happens if I vote by mail service and want to change my election at a later date?
    • What happens if someone votes by mail and then tries to vote in person?
    • How practise states protect and verify absentee/mail-in ballots?
    • How exercise election workers lucifer signatures?
    • Are results reported on election nighttime coming from in-person or absentee/mail-in votes?
    • Do states study how many mail-in/absentee ballots are outstanding on ballot night?
    • Practise absentee/mail-in ballots take longer to count than in-person ballots?
    • What happens if someone votes by mail-in ballot or absentee ballot and after passes abroad before Election Twenty-four hours?
  • Disputing election results
    • How will election recounts work?
    • How close does an election have to exist to trigger an automated recount?
    • Tin a candidate or voter asking a recount?
    • Who pays for recounts and contested elections?
    • What are poll watchers?
    • What does it mean to challenge a voter'southward eligibility, and who can do it?
    • What is a redo election?
    • Who tin file election-related lawsuits?
    • What are the reasons to call a redo election?
    • Who can call a redo election?
    • Can a redo exist held for a presidential election?
  • Election result reporting and certification
    • What happens if candidates declare victory in the 2020 ballot earlier results are final?
    • Tin candidates win an election if they have already conceded?
    • How and when are election results finalized?
    • How exercise major media outlets declare winners?
  • Transitions of ability and taking part
    • Who is the president if election results are unknown by Jan twenty, 2021?
    • Who serves in Congress if election results are unknown by January 2021?
    • Who serves in a state or local government if election results are unknown?
    • What happens if the winning presidential candidate becomes incapacitated before taking office?
  • Manufactures almost potential scenarios in the 2020 ballot
  • U.South. Supreme Court actions affecting the November 3, 2020, general election

Run across too

  • Twentieth Subpoena to the U.s.a. Constitution
  • 20-fifth Amendment to the Us Constitution

Related articles

  • Politifact, "What happens if a president or nominee dies or is incapacitated? Effectually elections, it gets thorny"
  • Washington Mail service, "What happens to the election if Trump tin can't perform his duties?"
  • Fiscal Times, "What happens if a candidate must withdraw from a presidential election?"
  • Reason, "What Happens if Trump Becomes too Incapacitated to Serve, Drops Out of the Election, or Both?"
  • New York Times, "What if Trump Tin can't Run? Many Steps Are Clear, only Some Are Non"
  • Associated Press, "AP EXPLAINS: What happens if a candidate for president dies?"

Footnotes

  1. U.Due south. News & World Report, "What Happens to the U.S. Presidential Election if a Candidate Dies or Becomes Incapacitated?" Oct two, 2020
  2. NCSL, "The Electoral College," September 24, 2020
  3. 3.0 3.1 Constitutioncenter.org, "The Xx-Fifth Amendment," accessed October two, 2020