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Prior to the 12th Amendment, there were no separate electoral votes for President and Vice President. The candidate with the most electoral votes became President, and the candidate with the second most electoral votes became the Vice President. A faction/political party had to carefully coordinate votes to ensure that the right people won the right offices, which didn't always work out if the electors weren't voting for the same secondary person to become Vice President. If they failed, it was entirely possible for the President and Vice President to be from opposing factions/political parties.

Obviously you wouldn't want to have a rival in a position of power in the Executive Branch, and the Constitution makes that the case. The only role that the United States Constitution gives the Vice President is to be President of the Senate. Regarding succession, the Constitution only said that "In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President." It wasn't until the death of President Harrison and John Tyler's succession as President, not Acting President, that the precedent of direct succession as full President was established. However, throughout his term as President he was considered to be merely Acting President by many people, who felt that a special election should have been held to select a new President. If the Vice President was considered to be a member of the Legislative Branch that would make the case for Acting President stronger. The Constitution has a strict separation of powers, and it could be considered awkward to have a member of the Executive presiding over the Legislative Branch. Certainly the case for the President Pro Tempore or Speaker of the House becoming President instead of Acting President under the 1792 Presidential Succession Act would have been far more controversial.

Given this (and perhaps some other arguments), is it possible that the office of Vice President could have been considered part of the Legislative Branch? What kind of implications might that have had? Also, what if presidential death or incapacitation resulted in an Acting President taking over until the conclusion of a special election?
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