If a candidate dies, becomes incapacitated or is otherwise officially no longer the nominee (like if they officially withdraw before the deadline, the way people were yelling at Aaron Coleman to) the party committee votes to select someone to replace them
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Replying to @arthur_affect @boltmeyer
In a presidential election, because it's actually an election for a slate of pledged electors under the banner of a given party rather than an actual direct vote for a candidate, there's no constitutional barriers to this The GOP can just say all Trump votes are now Pence votes
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Replying to @arthur_affect @boltmeyer
Can they though? Its not at all up to the states? If Trump dies Nov 1st & the Reps decide to replace him w/ Pence, are all the votes counted until then (could be a healthy amount) not going to ''Trump'', regardless? The constitution doesn't mention parties after all.
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Replying to @Arie_Ben_Ari @boltmeyer
The Constitution doesn't mention citizens voting for the President at all, and indeed we do not vote for the President We vote for slates of "pledged electors" in the Electoral College, and *they're* the ones who vote for the President
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It's kind of complicated, but basically the state government's relationship is with the parties -- it's the party that has to follow a certain set of rules to get their "ticket" on the ballot And there's this legally established precedent for all the complex stuff a ticket means
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But basically when you "cast a vote for Joe Biden as President" you don't actually do that It's been agreed upon by statute and case law etc. that what this legally means is you "cast a vote for a slate of electors pledged to the Democratic Party's nominee"
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Who is *currently* Joe Biden, and according to all these rules the parties agreed to has to be nominated by the party according to the primary election process, etc., and can't be changed except in emergencies But it's still ultimately the choice of the party, a private entity
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So as far as I'm aware the precedent is that if the nominee who won the primary can't be the nominee anymore due to emergency -- death, incapacitation, withdrawal, etc -- the DNC or the RNC just votes on a new nominee
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It actually varies by state. In some states, by statute the electors are free to vote their conscience; in others, they're "required" to vote as directed by the *state* party that named them to the ballot. The state party isn't required to follow the national party's direction.
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AIUI the *party rules* are very clear on what's supposed to happen The party, of course, is not actually a government and can't put you in jail or anything if you personally break party rules, but you'll be on the outs with the party for the rest of your life
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It's inconsistent whether the *state government* has a *law* saying pledged electors have to transfer their pledge to the new nominee when the DNC/RNC picks one But in terms of how the process is supposed to work on the party level it's unambiguous
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