Presidential Lottery (23 page)

AMENDMENT 20

(
Ratified January 23, 1933
)

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1. The terms of the President and Vice-President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended
if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

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2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

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3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice-President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice-President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice-President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice-President shall have qualified.

SECTION
4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice-President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

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5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.

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6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by
the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

AMENDMENT 22

(
Ratified February 27, 1951
)

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ECTION
1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

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2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.

AMENDMENT 23

(
Ratified March 29, 1961
)

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1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:

A number of electors of President and Vice-President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice-President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

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2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

AMENDMENT 25

(
Ratified February 10, 1967
)

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ECTION
1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

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2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the
Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

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3. Whenever the President transmits to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

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4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of
his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

1. THE AUTOMATIC PLAN

[Text of proposed amendment to the Constitution, introduced Jan. 3, 1969, by Rep. Hale Boggs (D., La.) and others.]

Section 1.
The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and together with the Vice President chosen for the same term, be elected as provided in this Constitution.

The President and Vice President shall be elected by the people of each State in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, and by the people of the District constituting the seat of the Government of the United States (hereafter in this article referred to as the “District”) in such manner as the
Congress shall by law prescribe. The Congress may determine the time of the election of the President and Vice President, which day shall be the same throughout the United States. In such an election, a vote may be cast only as a joint vote for the election of two persons (referred to in this article as a “presidential candidacy”) one of whom has consented that his name appear as candidate for President on the ballot with the name of the other as candidate for Vice President, and the other of whom has consented that his name appear as candidate for Vice President on the ballot with the name of the said candidate for President. No person may consent to have his name appear on the ballot with more than one other person. No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President. In each State and in the District the official custodian of election returns shall make distinct lists of all presidential candidacies for which votes were cast, and of the number of votes in such State for each candidacy, which lists he shall sign and certify and transmit to the seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the electoral votes shall be computed in the manner provided in section 2.