The Process of Presidential Transitions

When George Washington assumed the helm of the American government as the first president under the new U.S. Constitution, much remained unknown about how this experiment in democracy would go. When President Washington left office after two terms, every subsequent American president followed his example until Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed office in 1932 for the first of his three full terms and the brief start of his fourth before his death in 1944. However, from the regulations and processes written in the Constitution to subsequent legislation, the process for presidential elections and transitions has continued to evolve over the course of American history.

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution

Not surprisingly, the original Constitution had little to say about how government would change hands after a president’s retirement or electoral defeat. Article II, Section 1 mandated that electors would meet in their respective states to cast ballots for two candidates. Then the President of the Senate, the Vice-President, would open these ballots and count them. The candidate with the most votes would be elected President, unless there were two candidates with an equal number of votes. This scenario occurred in the Election of 1800 when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the exact same number of votes. In this situation, the election goes to the House of Representatives to determine who will become president. In this same Section 1 there are instructions for the election of the Vice-President. If there is a clear winner for the Presidency, the candidate with the next highest number of electoral votes will become Vice-President. If there is a tie for this position, the Senate will choose the Vice-President.

12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

After the election of 1800 controversy, Congress passed the 12th Amendment. In this Amendment, electors had to cast separate votes for the President and the Vice-President. In the event of an electoral tie, each state delegation in the House of Representatives had one vote to cast for the Presidency. Twothirds of the eligible delegations had to cast a vote. Once again with a tied Vice-Presidential election, each Senator would cast a ballot for this position and two-thirds of the Senate would cast a vote. This amendment set the date for the end of a presidential administration to March 4.

20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

This Amendment changed the end of the terms of the Presidency from March 4 to January 20. Section 3 of this amendment states “the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President-elect nor a Vice President shall