Amend12W6

=12W6= =Twelfth Amendment= = __12th Amendment__ =


 * In our own words the 12th amendment is:**
 * The 12th amendment talks about how the President and Vice-President are chosen. They are voted for on separate ballots. The 12th amendment talks more about the voting procedures and requirements to be President or Vice-President. It states that the people who vote for the President cannot be forced to vote for the Vice-President that the President wants elected. **

** 1. How are the President and Vice-President elected? -Caroline **
In a general presidential election, voters select electors to represent their vote in the Electoral College, and not for an individual presidential candidate. The authors of the Constitution enforced this system so that it would lead to the best-qualified candidate. Voters in each state actually cast a vote for a block of electors who are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. These electors, in turn, vote for the presidential candidate. The number of electors for each state equals its Congressional representation. After Election Day, these electors assemble in their state capitals, cast their ballots, and officially select the next President of the United States. Legally, the electors may vote for someone other than the candidate for whom they were pledged to vote, according to the 12th amendment as well. The votes of the electors are then sent to Congress where the President of the Senate opens the certificates and counts the votes. A majority is necessary to continue to the Presidential or Vice-Presidential elections. A candidate must receive at least 270 votes to be elected to the office of President or Vice President. If no presidential candidate gets an absolute majority, the House of Representatives determines who the next President will be. The Senate decides who the next Vice President will be if there is no absolute majority after the Electoral College vote. Basically, if there is a tie then the procedures right above would take place. Citation: []

** 2. What does the word quorum mean? -Caroline **
====Quorum is the number of members of a group or organization required to be present to transact business legally, usually a majority. Or it can be a particularly chosen group. I think the word quorum is referring to the Senate or House of Representatives when a majority of votes are needed to pass a law or elect a candidate.====

=
The President is allowed to pick the Vice-Presidential nominee but the people of the US have to vote for the nominee to make it official that he will be Vice-President. So, the people are the ones who make the final decision since this person will partially be ruling the country. The answer is no, the President cannot pick the Vice-President that he or possibly a she in the future, wants, but they can choose a nominee. The citizens of the US are the ones who finally vote and decide which nominee they want to rule their country. Whoever gets the majority of votes from the people will officially become Vice-President after a few meetings such as the Electoral College process as well.===== Citation: []
 * 4. What is the Electoral College? -Caroline **

The Electoral College is a process rather than a place which the founding fathers established in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. A selection of the electors takes place which is the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. 538 electors are in this process and share their opinions and thoughts to discuss. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Each candidate running for President in your state has his or her own group of electors that usually support him or her. But the electors from each state aren't forced to be on the candidate from their state's side. They are allowed to have whatever opinion they want but it is commonly on their state's side. Therefore, this process is a very important part of the process of electing the President. Citation: []

**5. Does the Vice-President take over when the President dies? -Maria** The vice president is the second-highest position in the executive branch of the US government after the president. He or she shares partial power with the president that is granted under the Article Two, Section One of the Constitution. The vice president is the first person in the presidential line of succession, and would normally ascend to presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. Thus, the answer to that question is yes, that since the vice president is the second highest position in the executive branch he or she would take the position temporarily until the next President would be elected. In 1947, the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 was signed into law by Harry Truman. This act set the order of presidential succession that is still followed today. This order is followed if the president dies or is incapacitated. The order of cabinet officers included in the list is determined by the dates on which each of their positions was created. Citation: []

The US Constitution lists three requirements for any individual who wants to become president. 1. A president must be a natural born U.S. citizen. Someone may be born abroad, but only if both parents were citizens of the United States. 2 Be at least 35 years of age. 3. Have lived in the United States for at least 14 years to be president. This does not have to be consecutive or even the 14 years leading up to becoming president. These are the minimum constitutional requirements for someone to become president of the United States. Citation: @http://americanhistory.about.com/od/uspresidents/f/presidential_requirements.htm
 * 6. What are the Requirements to Become President? - Maria **

Our 2nd President, John Adams, had a Vice President from the other political party. Before the 12th amendment, every candidate running for President ran for President by himself, regardless of political party. The electors would pick two of these candidates, one for President and one for Vice President. The electors votes were up to the states. The electors did not have to pay attention to the popular vote.
 * 7. Why was the 12th amendment created? -Maria **

Communication in the 18th century was very slow, s other electors from other states could not coordinate with each other to pick the Vice President with the second vote they were allowed. Therefore, when the votes were tallied in the election of 1796, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson received the most electoral votes, and the man that was supposed to be Vice President, Thomas Pinckney, who was part of the same party as Adams came in third. By the laws of the United States, those that won the top two electoral vote totals would be President and Vice President.

This led to the 12th amendment in 1804. The most important part of the 12th amendment is that instead of casting two votes for President, each elector must pick a President AND a Vice President on his or her ballot. This ensures that the President will be paired with his running mate after the election. This has been the way we have operated the Electoral College since 1804.

*Popular vote totals were not recorded until the Election of 1824.
 * ** The Election of 1800 Candidate ** ||  ** Party **  ||  ** Electoral Vote **  ||  ** Popular Vote **  ||
 * Thomas Jefferson (VA) ||  Democratic-Republican ||  73  ||  *  ||
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px;"> [|Aaron Burr] (NY)> || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> Democratic-Republican || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> 73  ||   ||
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px;">John Adams (MA) || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> Federalist || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> 65  ||   ||
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px;">C.C. Pinckney (SC) || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> Federalist || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> 64  ||   ||
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px;"> [|John Jay] (NY) || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> Federalist || <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif,geneva,verdana; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> 1  ||   ||

Candidates for vice president cannot run with a presidential candidate from the same state. Candidates for the vice presidency must be willing to take over the duties of the president if he is incapacitated, dies, removed from office, or otherwise unable to meet the obligations of his office. If the vice president takes over presidential duties temporarily, he is not required to be sworn into office as president. If the vice president takes over presidential duties permanently, he must be sworn in as president, and another vice president is chosen. If a vice president becomes president or is removed from office, another vice-presidential candidate can be nominated by the president and appointed to office. This must be approved by a majority vote in both houses of Congress. Citation: @https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States
 * 8. What are the requirements to become vice president? -Maria **

The Constitution limits the formal powers and role of vice president to becoming president, unless the president become unable to serve because of sickness or death, and to acting as the presiding officer of the U.S. senate. As President of the Senate, the vice president has two primary duties: to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over and certify the official vote count of the U.S. Electoral College. That would be the case if there was every a tie and then the Vice President would make the deciding vote to make the final decision. Citation: [|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States]
 * 9. What are the roles of the Vice-President? -Caroline **

The issue of voting rights has been a controversial topic in all of the US history. Over the years, constitutional amendments were ratified specifically to extend voting rights to different groups of citizens. These rights cannot be argued upon or denied and apply to everyone: Voting rights reforms have significantly expanded access to the ballot for non-Protestants, non-whites, those who lack wealth, women, and those 18–21 years old. Everyone currently has the ability to vote as long as they are 18 or over. Citation: []
 * 10. Who is allowed to vote for the President, are there requirements to be a citizen with a right to vote? -Caroline **
 * "Race, color, or previous condition of servitude"
 * "On account of sex"
 * In [|Washington, D.C.], presidential elections
 * (For federal elections) "By reason of failure to pay any [|poll tax] or other tax"
 * (For state elections) Taxes
 * "Who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age"
 * Requirement that a person reside in a jurisdiction for an extended period of time

= Answers to Essential Questions (at the top of screen): = 1. -**Caroline** Before 1804, there were many issues which prompted the creation of the 12th amendment and the ideas to make it, that are now solved. Before this Amendment, every candidate running for President ran for President by himself, and the political party didn't matter or change that. The electors would pick two of these candidates, one for President and one for Vice President. The way those electors voted was up to the states, so this system was very confusing and hard to understand. The electors did not have to pay attention to or look at the popular vote. Communication was extremely slow and nothing like it is today, in the 18th century. Thus, other electors from other states could not coordinate with each other to pick the Vice President with the second vote they were allowed. When the votes were tallied in the election of 1796, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson received the most electoral votes, and the man that was supposed to be Vice President, Thomas Pinckney, who was part of the same party as Adams came in third. This system was not very fair at all if you could understand it. According to the US laws, the candidates that won the top two electoral vote totals overall, would become President and Vice President. After this, and another confusing election in 1800, the 12th amendment was created shortly after in 1804. The most major part of the 12th amendment is that we used to cast 2 votes for the President, but now each elector must pick a President and a Vice President on his or her ballot. To sum up, the President and Vice President are voted for on two separate ballots compared to before. This makes sure that the President will be paired with his running mate after the election. We have run the Electoral College this way since 1804 and the issues have been fixed. I would call it a success. Citation:[| http://kids.laws.com/12th-amendment]

2. ** - Maria **

Today an elector casts his ballot and one person as his choice for president and another as his choice for vice president. Then two separate lists are drawn up; one with all the names and votes cast for president, and another with all the names and votes cast for vice president. The person with a majority of votes on the presidential list is named president and the person with a majority of votes on the vice presidential list is named vice president. If no one receives a majority of the votes for president, then the House of Representatives chooses from the top three candidates. If no one receives a majority of the votes for vice president, then the Senate chooses from the top two candidates.

Citation: @https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution @https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

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