Death or Other Absence of a Presidential Candidate Could Doom Election Outright

As presidential elections go, this has already been one for the books, and general election season is just hitting its stride.

One of the more prominent, election-related ���what ifs��� that���s been kicked around for months now has to do with what might happen if one���or both���of the two major party candidates is unable, or unwilling, to finish the journey to November 8.

Anyone who has even remotely paid attention to the news this year likely knows why this has been such a consideration. On the Republican side, Donald Trump has faced a great deal of opposition from within his own party, much of it that continues to this day. Additionally, there have been whispers, not entirely unfueled by Trump himself, that perhaps he was not really interested in actually being President of the United States.

On the side of the Democrats, while Hillary Clinton has not faced quite the same level of internal dissent as Trump (although it has certainly been significant), there has been some real concern about the state of her health.

An article appearing over at U.S. News & World Report (usnews.com) outlines the possible options for handling a scenario where at least one major party candidate cannot fulfill his or her obligations as candidate, options that include everything from the selection of new representative candidates by the members of the Democratic and Republican National Committees, respectively (a more likely resolution), to the Electoral College convening without a general election being held, and making the decision without any direct input in the form of a popular vote from the citizens.

Addressing the possibility, law professor John Nagle of the University of Notre Dame says, ���There's nothing in the Constitution which requires a popular election for the electors serving in the Electoral College.���

���It's up to each state legislature to decide how they want to choose the state's electors. It may be a situation in which the fact that we have an Electoral College, rather than direct voting for presidential candidates, may prove to be helpful.���

While it���s not clear how truly ���helpful��� that would be, what is clear is that such a turn of events could very well take place.

Just something of which to take note.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large