What happens if Trump/Biden catches COVID

[Hnv1]

What happens if the candidate dies a day before the election?

The Party simply ("simply") picks a new candidate.  

Source: howstuffworks

*Whoops, misread your post.  A Mel-Carnahan-type thingy?

I'm pretty sure the party would just pick a person to receive electoral votes a deceased candidate would've received. When VP John S. Sherman died less than a month before the 1912 election, too late for him to be replaced on the ballot, the RNC picked Nicolas M. Butler to receive electoral votes Sherman would've received. A running-mate would be the most obvious choice to "replace" a presidential nominee.

It would still be unclear how some states' faithless elector laws would play out under this scenario. Although there is a historical precedent about electoral votes casted for a dead candidate being not valid, even if pledged (Horace Greeley).

Besides the running partner designated as a successor in case picking anyone else wouldn’t just make the election redundant as a process?

More interesting Trump dies a day before, Pence dies three days after and it’s a trump victory. Pelosi is the president. Will the RNC hold a snap convention?

That's a very interesting situation, since its' filled with legal questions.

On one hand one can assume that electors' failure to chose a President and a Vice President would mean there's no qualified person to assume the office come January 20, meaning Pelosi would continue on as the Acting President. (Important note here: according to the law only the Vice President can succeed to the office. Any other person from the line of succession would only "act" as President, with the office itself being vacant).

On the other hand if no one gets the majority, the House picks the President-elect from up to three most voted candidates in the electoral college (while Senate picks the Vice President-elect from two top vote recipients). So let's say Republican electors just vote whomever they want, and we'll have the House picking between Biden and two other people. I guess only if that fails to produce the winner, would the Speaker remain on as Acting President.

I assume the RNC would be very quick to pick a replacement nominee to avoid this. A snap convention would have to be really a snap one, and given how long and messy it could turn out, I guess the RNC just would nominate successors.

What’s to force the electors to abide the RNC here, they’re not faithless, the ticket just died. Legally they are free to act according to their discretion. Also any RNC dropped down president would be a lame duck from day 1.
The reasonable thing is to let Pelosi be acting president and call on a special election early in 2021, but that would require a constitutional amendment?

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

What happens if the candidate dies a day before the election?

The Party simply ("simply") picks a new candidate.  

Source: howstuffworks

*Whoops, misread your post.  A Mel-Carnahan-type thingy?

I'm pretty sure the party would just pick a person to receive electoral votes a deceased candidate would've received. When VP John S. Sherman died less than a month before the 1912 election, too late for him to be replaced on the ballot, the RNC picked Nicolas M. Butler to receive electoral votes Sherman would've received. A running-mate would be the most obvious choice to "replace" a presidential nominee.

It would still be unclear how some states' faithless elector laws would play out under this scenario. Although there is a historical precedent about electoral votes casted for a dead candidate being not valid, even if pledged (Horace Greeley).

Besides the running partner designated as a successor in case picking anyone else wouldn’t just make the election redundant as a process?

More interesting Trump dies a day before, Pence dies three days after and it’s a trump victory. Pelosi is the president. Will the RNC hold a snap convention?

That's a very interesting situation, since its' filled with legal questions.

On one hand one can assume that electors' failure to chose a President and a Vice President would mean there's no qualified person to assume the office come January 20, meaning Pelosi would continue on as the Acting President. (Important note here: according to the law only the Vice President can succeed to the office. Any other person from the line of succession would only "act" as President, with the office itself being vacant).

On the other hand if no one gets the majority, the House picks the President-elect from up to three most voted candidates in the electoral college (while Senate picks the Vice President-elect from two top vote recipients). So let's say Republican electors just vote whomever they want, and we'll have the House picking between Biden and two other people. I guess only if that fails to produce the winner, would the Speaker remain on as Acting President.

I assume the RNC would be very quick to pick a replacement nominee to avoid this. A snap convention would have to be really a snap one, and given how long and messy it could turn out, I guess the RNC just would nominate successors.

What’s to force the electors to abide the RNC here, they’re not faithless, the ticket just died. Legally they are free to act according to their discretion. Also any RNC dropped down president would be a lame duck from day 1.
The reasonable thing is to let Pelosi be acting president and call on a special election early in 2021, but that would require a constitutional amendment?

At the very least, I would definitely anticipate an emergency joint session of Congress where a plan forward would be discussed since there would be no clear constitutional blueprint. 

[Hnv1]

What happens if the candidate dies a day before the election?

The Party simply ("simply") picks a new candidate.  

Source: howstuffworks

*Whoops, misread your post.  A Mel-Carnahan-type thingy?

I'm pretty sure the party would just pick a person to receive electoral votes a deceased candidate would've received. When VP John S. Sherman died less than a month before the 1912 election, too late for him to be replaced on the ballot, the RNC picked Nicolas M. Butler to receive electoral votes Sherman would've received. A running-mate would be the most obvious choice to "replace" a presidential nominee.

It would still be unclear how some states' faithless elector laws would play out under this scenario. Although there is a historical precedent about electoral votes casted for a dead candidate being not valid, even if pledged (Horace Greeley).

Besides the running partner designated as a successor in case picking anyone else wouldn’t just make the election redundant as a process?

More interesting Trump dies a day before, Pence dies three days after and it’s a trump victory. Pelosi is the president. Will the RNC hold a snap convention?

That's a very interesting situation, since its' filled with legal questions.

On one hand one can assume that electors' failure to chose a President and a Vice President would mean there's no qualified person to assume the office come January 20, meaning Pelosi would continue on as the Acting President. (Important note here: according to the law only the Vice President can succeed to the office. Any other person from the line of succession would only "act" as President, with the office itself being vacant).

On the other hand if no one gets the majority, the House picks the President-elect from up to three most voted candidates in the electoral college (while Senate picks the Vice President-elect from two top vote recipients). So let's say Republican electors just vote whomever they want, and we'll have the House picking between Biden and two other people. I guess only if that fails to produce the winner, would the Speaker remain on as Acting President.

I assume the RNC would be very quick to pick a replacement nominee to avoid this. A snap convention would have to be really a snap one, and given how long and messy it could turn out, I guess the RNC just would nominate successors.

What’s to force the electors to abide the RNC here, they’re not faithless, the ticket just died. Legally they are free to act according to their discretion. Also any RNC dropped down president would be a lame duck from day 1.
The reasonable thing is to let Pelosi be acting president and call on a special election early in 2021, but that would require a constitutional amendment?

At the very least, I would definitely anticipate an emergency joint session of Congress where a plan forward would be discussed since there would be no clear constitutional blueprint. 

As far as I know the joint session has no constitutional power (unlike Australia e.g.) I assume they would have to consult the governors here in order to pass some swooping bi partisan constitutional amendment in time. Or maybe request a special writ from the SC...

So basically “here be dragons”

[It’s so Joever]

Looks like now that Trump has it, everyone has changed their mind.