If a candidate passes away before the election, what happens?

[Thank you for being a friend...]

There is a remote possibility it could happen, especially when the candidates are around 70 years old or if in the future we have an 80 year old running.  Does the VP automatically become the presidential candidate?  Does the name stay on the ballot and the VP just becomes President on January 20?  This has never happened before, am I correct?

[GeorgiaModerate]

The party committees can name a replacement.  If ballots were already printed, this could lead to some confusion, but remember that we actually vote for Presidential electors rather than those candidates.

No major candidate has died before the election.  In 1872, Horace Greeley died after the election but before the meeting of the Electoral College.  He had lost the election by a significant margin, so this didn't really affect things.  His electoral votes were scattered among several other people (three were actually cast for Greeley, but these were ruled to be invalid since he was dead.)

[Erc]

The closest analogue in history is 1872, when Horace Greeley died after election day but before the electors met to cast their votes (which are ultimately the ones that matter).

Many electors still voted for Horace Greeley, but Congress determined that those votes were invalid, and threw them out.  By this precedent, no, a dead man cannot be elected President, so the VP does not automatically become President on January 20.

Both parties have means to replace a dead nominee.  RNC Rule 9 empowers the RNC to pick a successor or call a new convention in that event.  The DNC is also empowered to fill a vacancy in consultation with Democratic leadership in Congress and the DGA.  Note that in neither case does the VP nominee get promoted automatically.

What would actually happen ballot-wise would depend on the laws in each state.  Depending on when it happens, it may be too late to replace them on the ballot in some states, or some states may not even have a mechanism to do so.  What of course matters is the electors, who will presumably be instructed by their parties to vote for the new nominee, and will presumably do so.

The one possible wrinkle in all of this are faithless elector laws.  Many states require by law that the electors vote for their party's nominee, but the question is who does the state law consider to be the nominee in this case?  The one that the RNC/DNC says, or the one that appeared on the ballot?  A case could be made that the electors, by not voting for the dead guy who appeared on the ballot, are being faithless, and their votes should be thrown out.  (This could be especially confusing if the VP nominee was promoted, in which case the voters really did vote on the ballot for the not-dead, completely eligible, Mike Pence for VP, not whoever his replacement is.)  This would presumably go to court, where the overall constitutionality of faithless elector laws would be tested, etc.  

I personally doubt faithless elector laws would be enjoining in such a scenario, but it's possible they would be (or could be for the VP slot in case of a promotion).  If so, it's possible a race that would have been a clear victory for the dead guy's party could be thrown to the house, as electoral votes for the dead guy don't count.  It can't swing a race in the opposite direction, as you still need a majority of the total number of possible electoral votes in order to win the Presidency outright.

[Erc]

After a bit more research into faithless elector laws:

Many states don't have them.

Many states have laws that punish faithless electors (it's a misdemeanor, or small fine), but still count their votes.  It's possible that some individual electors could be deterred by such penalties, but it seems unlikely if the Presidency is on the line, and it's unknown whether such laws could be enforced.

Four states (Minnesota, Nevada, Nebraska, and Montana) have passed the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act, which requires electors to vote consistent with a pledge "to mark my ballots for President and Vice President for the nominees for those offices of the party that nominated me."  Who counts as the nominee in such a circumstance may not be entirely clear under state law, but it would presumably be the replacement chosen by the national party.  Such laws are constitutional under Ray v. Blair (1952).  The UFPEA was specifically designed not to deal with the 1872-like case of when a candidate dies after the election but before the electors meet, so it's especially unlikely it would cause issues here.

Michigan is a particular case.  "Refusal or failure to vote for the candidates for president and vice-president appearing on the Michigan ballot of the political party which nominated the elector constitutes a resignation from the office of elector, his vote shall not be recorded."  Note specifically the "on the ballot" wording, unlike for the UFPEA above.  If an election came down to Michigan, it's possible this could make a difference, though this would presumably become a Supreme Court case very quickly (are pledges forcing you to vote for a constitutionally ineligible candidate legal?).

[Sir Mohamed]

Uncle Joe will jump in as candidate and crush the orange-skinned clown badly.

But ain't gonna happen. She'll be around for likely two terms.


On the GOP side, I guess that Kasich would be nominated (despite Cruz' efforts) and pull off a very close election.

[Mr. Reactionary]

From WaPo:

"Everywhere else in the process, presidents and presidential candidates who die can be replaced by somebody like-minded. If presidents or presidents-elect die, their running mates, not their opponents, step in. If candidates die, they can be replaced by their party on the ballot. If it is too late for that, a party can coordinate a replacement candidate for its electors to choose when the Electoral College meets. In any of these cases, the system provides relative continuity; a death cannot flip party control of the presidency or remove an entire side from the election. In contingent elections, by contrast, a death can do just that."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/04/25/congress-must-act-now-on-section-4-of-the-20th-amendment/?utm_term=.2f857699ddfa

There is a lack of certainty if there was no electoral college majority and the election went to Congress and then one of the candidates died, since the Constitution limits who may be considered by Congress.