# Can a presidential candidate withdraw AFTER the election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249 "2008-02-26T18:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/1 "2008-02-26T18:08:56Z")
My question is this: Say we had another “2000”, ie, a candidate wins the Electoral College but loses the popular vote. This time, the “loser” had several million more votes than the “winner”. The now President-elect feels genuine regret for this and wants his rival to be President, having soundly defeated him vote-wise. Can he withdraw? If not, would the Speaker of the House take over after both President and Vice-President (after what would surely be a marathon arm-twisting session) withdrew? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/2 "2008-02-26T18:21:35Z")
Clarification needed: Does the president-elect withdraw before the Electoral College actually meets and votes in December? I ask because most people assume a presidential candidate will win the Electoral College based on the states he has won in the general election. If he withdraws after the general election but before the Electoral College votes, the electors can still vote for someone else. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/3 "2008-02-26T18:37:51Z")
Prior to the Electoral College meeting, the Electoral College will meet and vote on the president. If the leading candidate in Electoral votes has withdrawn, his electors can decide who they vote for. In theory, it can be anyone eligible for president. In practice, it would be a substitute candidate named by the party leaders, and most likely the vice presidential candidate. If the electoral college has voted, things get very messy, and there’s no clearcut answer. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/4 "2008-02-26T18:46:59Z")
Another clarification needed: when does the vice president-elect withdraw? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/5 "2008-02-26T19:21:53Z")
Similar question from two weeks ago: [What if a president changes his mind about being president?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=455980) ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/6 "2008-02-27T16:44:01Z")
For the purposes of this question, the Electoral College has already voted. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/7 "2008-02-27T17:04:52Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] If the electoral college has voted, things get very messy, and there’s no clearcut answer. [/QUOTE] I wonder if the succession rules for resignation of an incumbent President would come into play? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/8 "2008-02-27T17:08:35Z")
From the other thread: > [@Freddy the Pig](#): > > If (refusal to serve) happened after the electors met, it would be treated as a resignation. The VP-elect would be sworn in as President on January 20, and would follow the Twenty-Fifth Amendment procedure for naming a successor. > [@Otto](#): > > To be hypertechnical, the VP-elect would be sworn in as VP. Upon the office of the President falling vacant on January 20, 2009 at noon through the refusal of the President-elect to take the Oath of Office, the newly-sworn VP would then and only then become President. > [@Freddy the Pig](#): > > I disagree. The Twentieth Amendment states, “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.” This does not appear to contemplate the VP-elect being sworn in as VP and then succeeding. > > I maintain that a formal refusal to serve, conveyed in writing to the Secretary of State, would be construed exactly like a death, and that no interim service as VP would be necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/9 "2008-02-27T17:14:08Z")
Before January 20, the president-elect and vice president-elect could send letters to the Secretary of State (who under law receives the official notice of a president’s resignation) and the President of the Senate (who officially tallies and announces the results of the Electoral College vote), saying, “I hereby decline, and will be unable to serve, the office of President (Vice President) of the United States.” With a vacancy in the presidency on January 20, the Speaker of the House would become president, per the [Presidential Succession Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Succession_Act_of_1947). He or she could then nominate a vice president, to be confirmed by Congress, per the 25th Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-presidential-candidate-withdraw-after-the-election/439249/10 "2008-02-28T01:00:04Z")
Well if the elected President really wanted the other candidate to be President, he should (a) take office, (b) get his Vice President to resign © appoint the other candidate his Vice President and push to get it through both houses, (d) resign himself.