Lateefah Simon: “today I introduce the Presidential Succession Clarification Act. Much has been said and written about the laws of…”

“today I introduce the Presidential Succession Clarification Act. Much has been said and written about the laws of succession following the death of a sitting President. In general, these laws clearly and precisely provide for the transfer of Presidential power. The laws of succession, however, do not adequately address the possibility that a Presidential candidate might die during the voting period itself--by that I mean during the period beginning roughly with the popular election in mid-November and ending with the formal naming of the President-elect in early January. A candidate's death during this 2-month period could seriously disrupt the voting process and raise doubts about the election results. The seriousness of these problems would depend on the precise point in time at which the death occurred. A hearing that was held in the 103d Congress on this subject highlighted the various scenarios in which legal ambiguities could lead to electoral crises. Broadly speaking, the act, which I introduced in the last Congress, addresses three distinct situations: First, let us suppose that a Presidential candidate dies after the electoral delegates have cast their votes but before those votes are counted. If the deceased would have won the election, who is now President elect? Scholars disagree on the answer.…”