Election Date In Us Constitution
There is no reference in the constitution to election week or election month or even an election quarter year votes are to be cast within a single day and the votes are to be counted at the end of the deadline period.
Election date in us constitution. And even if congress did postpone the vote the constitution would terminate trump s term on jan. 11 3 17 stat. 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 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.
This year their meeting and voting date is december 14 2020. It is statutorily set by the federal government as the tuesday next after the first monday in the month of november equaling the tuesday occurring within november 2 to november 8. The constitution says there is a designated election day with very real deadlines for voting.
While the united states constitution does set parameters for the election of federal officials state law not federal regulates most aspects of elections in the u s including primaries the eligibility of voters beyond the basic constitutional definition the running of each state s electoral college as well as the running of state and local elections. In other words the date cannot be changed without congress changing the laws which set the date. In the united states election day is the annual day set by law for the general elections of federal public officials.
For federal offices and most gubernatorial offices election day occurs only in even numbered years. The new rules took effect for the 1804 presidential election and have governed all subsequent pre. Federal law which sets election day for house and senate races preempted the louisiana law because the state law determined the winners from the results of the primary election which was held on a date different from the federally mandated election day.
The amendment was proposed by the congress on december 9 1803 and was ratified by the requisite three fourths of state legislatures on june 15 1804. The answer is no. But only so far as congress declines to pre empt state legislative choices.
The second sentence of this section which was based on section 6 of the act mar. The twelfth amendment to the united states constitution provides the procedure for electing the president and vice president. All elections federal state.