What if the US vice-president stayed the runner up.

Up until the Jefferson administration the US vice-president was not the president's running mate. He was the runner up. After John Adams was elected his vice-president was Jefferson since he was the runner up. Same can be seen in the election of 1800 too as Aaron Burr became Jefferson's vice-president because he was the runner up (they actually received the same vote so the congress decided who won). So the question is what if this system stayed. It could have very interesting consequences.
 
Up until the Jefferson administration the US vice-president was not the president's running mate. He was the runner up. After John Adams was elected his vice-president was Jefferson since he was the runner up. Same can be seen in the election of 1800 too as Aaron Burr became Jefferson's vice-president because he was the runner up (they actually received the same vote so the congress decided who won). So the question is what if this system stayed. It could have very interesting consequences.
So, basically, what if the 12th amendment never passed?
 
So, basically, what if the 12th amendment never passed?

I guess? Not very informed about the US constitution. I am after all not American. I learned everything I wrote in the op from the musical Hamilton it just seemed to be a very interesting topic that I had never seen discussed before.
 
Yes-the 12th amendment passed IIRC because having the runner-up meant it was two opposing parties and it caused a mess. Imagine Gore as Bush's VP, or McCain/Mitt as Obama's VP.
 
My guess is that it needs the Electoral college to physically meet and have the option of more than 1 ballot

They in fact did have 2 votes. The idea was that the electors would cast the first vote for who their state wanted (early state legislature, alter popular vote) and the second for whoever the heck was "best" for VP. In practice, this usually lead to the winner being whoever the states most wanted, and the runner up being... a semi-random political opponent. Jefferson spent his time as Secretary of State trying to make the other cabinet members look bad and spent his vice presidency under Adams trying to make a bid for the presidency which worked.
 
NOthing much changes. The winning party would arrange to have one elector vote for someone else instead of the intended VP vote. For example, in 1800 Adams received 65, his VP candidate received 64, and John Jay received 1. Jefferson and Burr received 73 and the tie vote because the Republicans fucked up their planning, and forgot to have one elector vote for someone else as President.

For example, in 2012, the Electoral Vote would look like this.

Obama, 332
Biden, 331
Some random Democrat, 1

So Obama would be Pres, Biden would be VP.
 
Actually, the Jeffersonian Republicans formed a special committee to decide how to avoid an 1800-style tie just in case the Twelfth Amendment wasn't ratified in time for the 1804 election. The idea was to get a handful of Republican electors to vote for Jefferson and someone other than George Clinton, to make sure that Clinton would be the runner-up. See Richard P. McCormick, The Presidential Game, p. 89. In 1800, it had been expected that one or two Republican electors would vote for someone other than Burr, but it didn't happen. This time the Republicans were taking no chances.

Basically, the rise of political parties made it inevitable that there would be party slates where it was understood who was the candidate for president and who was the candidate for vice-president. The Twelfth Amendment just made it official.
 
The real fun and games (butterflies permitting) would be in 1824.

If there is no 12th Amendment, then the HoR gets to choose from the first five candidates, not just the first three. So Henry Clay would not be excluded from the contingent election.

Also, the possibility arises of some of the candidates "pairing off". Might Adams and Clay make their "bargain" before November rather than after it, agreeing that the electors of each shd give their second votes to the other? If Jackson and Calhoun did likewise, this could produce a situation where the Crawford Electors have a "casting vote" as their second choices could decide who became POTUS. This, I suspect, would quickly produce a 12th Amendment of some kind, though not necessarily identical with OTL's.

All this, of course, assumes there has not been a 12th Amendment already, but of course there might be. To briefly remount an old hobby-horse, in 1820 an Amendment to choose Presidential Electors in districts came within six votes of passage in the HoR. TTL, might someone add a rider to it for "designation" of Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates, and might this attract the few extra votes required?
 
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