Inspired by The West Wing thread what would it take for there to be some situation which called for a special presidential election?
I have a recent one, The "Draft Eisenhower movement" fails and Bob Taft gets the Republican nomination in 1952 with Nixon as his runningmate, shortly after taking office Nixon is forced to resign due to some scandal and Taft dies on schedule per OTL. The speaker of the house Joseph Matin becomes president and presses congress to push for a special elections act and an election is held in 1954.
You might, but I think that the SCOTUS could simply rule that the VP or speaker or whomever, on ascending to the position could declare himself 'acting' - that Tyler's decision was valid precedent that one COULD ascend to the full presidency, but not that one HAD to.Wouldn't you need a constitutional amendment to do that? I can understand why an election makes sense, but since the constitution mandates four-year terms, and since Tyler established the precedent of accession to office, you'd need either the SCOTUS to rule that Tyler's accession was unconstitutional or have an alt-25th that allows for early elections.
I think the best bet for special elections after Tyler is for a presidential election to be ruled as fraudulent and for the Supreme Court to order a re-run.
I have a recent one, The "Draft Eisenhower movement" fails and Bob Taft gets the Republican nomination in 1952 with Nixon as his runningmate, shortly after taking office Nixon is forced to resign due to some scandal and Taft dies on schedule per OTL. The speaker of the house Joseph Matin becomes president and presses congress to push for a special elections act and an election is held in 1954.
No 25th Amendment and Watergate seems to me to make a special election in 1974 quite likely,
No 25th Amendment and Watergate seems to me to make a special election in 1974 quite likely,