I know at first this sounds like an incredibly stupid idea here, but follow me for a bit. OK, if there was a really really popular cartoon character who ran for president. I mean, what if his creator put him up to running. Say the creator was insane. Anyways you see where I am going. Well if the creator actually got an overwhelming portion of the popular vote and won enough states to have clinched the presidency by the electoral college as well; would he then become our President. I know this is an insane thought, but let’s remember back to not that long ago when the people of california elected arnold schwartzenegger (or however he spells his name.) I mean come on people this is the freaking terminator, has anyone ever watched Pumping Iron and then said to themselves, “Boy, that Arnold is one sweet and compassionate man who would surely protect and fight for my rights as an American!”?
Bosda’s quip notwithstanding, a cartoon character could be elected President of the United States.
However, the cartoon character would have to be a natural born citizen, 35 years old and have resided in the U.S. for fourteen years. Since Animated-Americans are not currently granted citizenship at birth, however, they are currently ineligible to run for the Presidency.
It’s (barely) within the realm of possibility that a cartoon character might win enough votes to claim office; most likely the character’s name wouldn’t actually make it on the ballot, but people might be convinced to write it in at the polls as a form of protest against other candidates or something. However, an office can only held by an actual person, and in the case of the office of President the person must have been born in the US, have lived here for 14 years, and be 35 years of age. See Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution. In the exceedingly unlikely event that a fictional character won an election, the character would be declared ineligible to hold office and the position would go to the candidate with the next most votes who was also eligible.
Now, that clause says that, if you are a person, you must be a natural born citizen and 35 years old, and 14 years a resident, in order to become president. However, as has been stated before, cartoon characters are not persons, and nowhere in that clause, does it state the requirements for a non-person to become president. So, I see no constitutional restriction.
That’s actually not that far fetched an occurence though.
It was more a strange quirk of that State’s election laws. If you don’t withdraw from the election by X date then you simply cannot, under any circumstances - no provisions are made for death of the candidate. The voters in general cast the vote as a vote for the Senator’s party and everyone had a good idea as to who the Governor was going to appoint Senator in his stead.
For one thing, Arnold Schwartzenegger is an actual human being. For another, he’s a renowned business man, a multi-millionaire, he speaks at least two languages fluently, he has connections worldwide and he has a degree in civil economics. There are certainly worse candidates to choose from.
Under standard parliamentary procedure, a vote for a cartoon character, or any other ineligible option, is treated as an “illegal” vote. Illegal votes do not count towards any legal option. I’d have to reread Robert’s Rules to see if illegal votes count for quorum.
With that said, I note that Congress does not operate under standard parliamentary procedure; they have their own custom rule book. So we need to determine what the relevant rules are. The question then becomes: What are the various states’ (and parties’) rules on counting votes for ineligible entities?
Hey! The candidate died after the date his name could be taken off the ballot. The Governor had announced who he would appoint to the office if the candidate were to win.
As Martin Hyde pointed out, it was a difficult situation for everyone involved (including the other party) and we Missourians did the best we could with the cards we were dealt.
