Amendment12W1

Amendment 12
This Amendment really made a difference on the process of voting for President and positively made the elections more efficient. It modified the electoral process and made it a lot smoother. It was approved by Congress on December 9, 1803 and officially ratified by the states on June 15, 1804. It clarifies what would occur if in the rare case of a tie, how the candidates should be listed on the ballots, and how the vice president should be elected after 1804.



1. ** How does each branch check the voting process? ** Each branch applies to the checks and balances system following the Constitution. For example, the Legislative Branch comes into play during presidential elections because if in the rare case of an electoral tie, it is up to the two houses of Congress to decide who will be the president and vice-president. The House of Re presentatives chooses the president based off of the ballots, and the Senate chooses the vice-president. The Judicial Branch makes sure each candidate follows all the requirements and they are "allowed" to run. They make sure all the candidates are fit into the criteria listed in the Constitution.



2. **How are the votes weighed in on each individual state?** Each individual state gets a certain number of votes based on their population, and the bigger the state the more votes you get. The population is more heavily weighed based on how dense the counties are. The votes are weighed a little bit based on the population, but the curve isn't that great of a curve, so it doesn't heavily impact the number of votes. Also, each state gets a certain number of votes, that is decided and assigned with the population in mind. So, states like Alaska, don't have a lot of votes because not many people live there. On the other hand, counties on the east coast, have many more votes because of this. 3. **Is the setup of the voting process constant throughout the country?** For the most part, the voting process' equipment and technology is similar throughout the states. Most states either use paper ballots, or mechanical lever machines, which are the most common equipment to use for voting. The majority of the states also have multiple voting locations throughout the cities, towns, and villages. A lot of the schools, community centers, town halls, and other functional places are where the voting is hosted.

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= = 4. **Does the population density of each state have an effect on the number of votes?** The population density of each state has a little wight on the number of votes. Each state receives a certain number of votes based on the population of the area. The more populated the county, the more votes the county gets.

5. **How were the president and vice-president elected before the 12th amendment?** The elector would cast his ballot and list it in his top two choices for president, the vice-president was not even mentioned, and the person with the highest number of electors, not the amount of electoral votes. They were named president. And then the second-highest number of votes was named vice-president.



6. **How were the president and vi** **ce-president elected after the 12th amendment?** The vice president was appointed by the president before the president was actually taken in as president. The elector also selects on the ballot one choice of president or vice-president he would prefer.

7. **How were the candidates listed in the ballots?** After the Amendment was initiated, the candidates must each individually be listed in the ballots to ensure that each candidate will be listed separately for the president and vice-president. The electors must check off the indicated candidate they would like to vote for (on paper). On the machine voting, the electors would pull the lever above the candidates name and that would choose the candidate for them. Recently they have the citizens fill out a ballot with bubbles that you have to fill in (a similar format of multiple choice tests), and then they feed it into the machine that scans it for them and information is recorded and analyzed through the machine.

8. **How would a electoral tie be settled?** According to the 12th amendment, if there is an electoral tie, it is up to the House of Representatives to choose the president by ballot, and the Senate to choose the vice-president. This contributes to the checks and balances of the federal government and how the separation of powers (one of the many main democratic beliefs) comes into play during the law enforcement.

9. **What were some requirements that the candidates had to follow to run for president or vice-president?** As stated in the Constitution, a presidential candidate must uphold qualifications such as a natural-born citizen of the United States, a resident for 14 years, and 35 years of age or older. (The amendment just re-iterates this information that is necessary to fully comprehend voting).

10. **What was the role of each branch during elections?** During elections the Legislative Branch plays a large role because they would settle an electoral tie. Each house of Congress would be responsible for choosing one of the candidates for president and vice president in the rare case of a tie. The Judicial Branch must keep the election in check by ensuring all the candidates follow the Constitutional qualifications to run for president or vice-president.
 * Note** Benjamin typed all of the answers, but they were worded by Lauren
 * (Google also provided most of the information when we searched it on the Google home page).**


 * For more information:**
 * http://www.history.com/topics/electoral-college**
 * https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxii**
 * http://www.shmoop.com/constitution/12th-amendment.html**


 * The 12th Amendment highly impacted society and changed the way voting would be forever. It modified the process in many ways and set certain standards the citizens, federal government and branches had to follow. For example, the 12th Amendment initiated that each elector can cast two votes, one for the president and vice-president. This evolution revised the voting and made it easier. The citizens choosing a candidate that were listed on two separate ballots helped society because it allowed the people to actually vote for 2 things. This enabled the electors to vote for who they want for the president AND vice-president. On the other hand, it also benefited society because with the rules already set (the rules in the amendment), there would be no controversy in the rare case of a tie. The amendment states that if there is a tie between the candidates, it would be settled by the Congress. The House of Representatives had the authority to choose the president (based off of the ballots), and the Senate had the power to choose the vice-president. This made a huge difference in voting because, now in the case of a tie, the people who are really dedicated to following politics, cannot complain inflict a controversy with the government. Since the rules are already initiated through this amendment, all problems will be avoided about the fairness of the elected candidates. All of this adds up to the fact that the 12th Amendment contributed to how society is today, and that it highly impacted the way people would vote from 1804 on!**
 * -Lauren Mazzella**


 * Before the 12th amendment, the electoral process was much different than it is now. The person who got the highest number of votes was named president, and the second-highest number of votes was named vice-president. But in 1800, the presidential election for Thomas Jefferson took place. During that, the 12th amendment was created to fix a flaw in the Constitution that allowed Thomas Jefferson to tie with his vice-presidential candidate Aaron Burr. The election was eventually sent to the House of Representatives which required 36 ballots to finally elect Jefferson as president. This amendment provided several remedies. One was that separate ballots are used for president and vice-president. Another one was that the candidates with the largest number of votes will be elected if that number constitutes a majority of the total electors.**


 * -Benjamin Araujo**

__How Michael Bloomberg Could Change American Politics__ __**Amendment 12 Current Event #1**__ The article's main idea from U.S. News and World Report is that the entrance of a third party candidate far into the election can cause major problems in constitutional voting. The 12th Amendment states that in the case of an electoral tie, the House of Representatives' delegates from each state get to cast one single vote for the candidate they want to win, and the majority of these votes win. Therefore, the popular votes casted nationwide technically benefit neither candidate or have a role in the determination of the president. If Michael Bloomberg, an American political reformer, were to run for President, the 12th Amendment's rights would be put to the test. Because a third party would typically mess up Democratic versus Republican states' votes, the election would more likely end in a tie, and messing up the perspectives of the delegates in the Electoral College and Congress. Unofficially and indirectly adding another political party to presidential elections would disturb the purpose of the 12th Amendment. The mainstream of democrats and republicans within each state, whether a state is a swing state, republican, or democrat, and what the perspective of the Congressmen is would be disturbed by adding a third party. Substantial to the Constitution and modern American politics, if Bloomberg were to win the election, the reformer would disrupt how the 12th Amendment has relevance to presidential elections because of his unknown and minor third party. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution would seriously arise controversy because if a third party candidate were to win, there is more of a chance of a tie in the electoral votes casted. This would enact each delegate from the House of Representatives to cast one vote, with the majority of the House already being Republican. The upper hand of the election by the House, republican, would highly impact the legal system the Constitution develops in the 12th Amendment. Not only might Bloomberg have influenced some Americans to follow his party, but Bloomberg's winning of the election (which in this case is highly unlikely), will force all the other aspects of the Constitution to be out of whack. For example, the idea that the members of Congress are determined by both the population of each state AND also distributed equally would discontinue efficient distribution of reliable and just members of Congress. A third party would also distort American politics because it would disregard the make the 12th Amendment more applicable because presidential ties do not usually occur, so, the whole scheme or “American Dream” of voting would be ruined. The whole purpose of living in a democracy is to let the people vote and have officials represent their people, but a third party president would make more electoral ties. Evidently, the 12th Amendment would be initiated and the House of Representatives would have to choose, demolishing the idea of a Representative Democracy in our nation. __[]__

__**Amendment 12 Current Event #2**__ Similar to the first article, this article also suggests to prevent major candidates that are huge controversies and hated across the board by opposing political parties, adding a third party to persuade swing states for their electoral vote would eliminate the chance of them becoming president. This plan that people came up with will deny any but especially swing states to persuade them to vote for the third party entered in the election to ensure that highly expressive and have such prominent, yet alternate beliefs from each other. The candidates of the 2016 election that are most targeted to be convicted by this plan are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These two candidates have very personal and strong beliefs that seem hostile and distant when they have debates to the states and presenting a third party candidate would convince swing states to side with them, giving both of these candidates a harder chance of getting the 270 majority votes. With this chance being harder, an electoral tie is more likely. In effect, the 12th Amendment would come into play. Now, the House of Representatives’ delegates would each cast a vote on the delegate they choose, and with the upper hand of votes being Republican in the chamber, the third party candidate would limit chances of choosing either of the more notorious candidates. The article targets the candidate as Donald trump, but this method could work for any candidate running in the election. Nowadays, there were more like 5 major candidates running at the time of the final election,while now there are mainly 2. With the more candidates, there was more likely ties and the 12th Amendment came into play. As the political parties developed and separated, so did the candidates. Now, there would be a main candidate from each party that was running at the time of the final election in November.

The 12th Amendment applies here because it is the source and main string in the plan that people in the United States came up with to keep the peace of politics between the two main parties. The third party allows the electoral votes to be split (unevenly) 3 ways instead of 2, leaving more room for error and leeway. Amendment 12 comes into play with the higher chance and likelihood of a tie occurring and then promotes the cause to prevent the two main candidates of each party from being elected. So, for this plan to work, the 12th Amendment’s ratification seriously effects the outcome and set up of this plan. Without this amendment being ratified, the plan would not work, and mediation would probably be the way the president would be decided in an electoral tie. This would demolish the essence of democracy, yet at the same time ruin it all the same. The plan to limit the chance of Donald Trump and/or Hillary Clinton being elected is completely tied around the 12th Amendment. Somewhat, this plan is benefitting both sides because it prevents both prominent candidates that opposing sides despise from being elected and rejects the electoral votes of being the overall choice through the 12th Amendment. __[]__