What’s the deal with the 12th Amendment provision not allowing electoral members to vote for two candidates from their home state? From what I’ve read, it is being brushed off as a technicality. Is Cheney’s voter registration move to Wyoming the end of it?
I do not mean this to be political. I’m just curious if this will affect the election results.
Two stories mentioning it:
http://quest.searchcolorado.com/stories/072500/gen_votes.shtml
Nope. Won’t be a problem. That’s exactly why Chaney “moved” to Wyoming.
Outdated, me thinks.
The 12th Amendment restriction on not choosing and pres and veep from the same state was a big deal in 1804 because the country was afraid that all the candidates were going to come out of Virginia.
This was supposed to force some balance in the ticket. I don’t know if Congress ever bothered to pass a law defining which is a candidate’s official “state.”
I asked about this issue months ago in this thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=27994
In that thread I proposed my theory (quoted below) as to why this constitutional provision exists – and it has absolutely nothing to do with geographic balance or Virginia’s domination of the nation’s politicos; it has everything to do with avoiding an pointless procedural logjam every 4 years come election time:
"I would argue that XIIth Ammendment requirement is a pretty weak mechanism to prevent the domination of a single state; all it does is “void” only ONE state’s power to vote for a that-state ticket. The numerous other states could do as they please (i.e. vote Texan+Texan), no?
I suggest that the reason for the requirement is that the framers wanted to prevent EVERY state from voting for a native-son ticket.
Think about it. Given the small number of states, the strong allegiance people had for their home states at the time, and the lack of a dominant national party system, it’s easy to imagine each and every state wanting to nominate (probably not the right word, but you know what I mean) a pair of their own “home boys.” If it became an entrenched practice, it would be virtually impossible to stop, given that no one state would want to “let go” first.
Thus, the requirement forces the states to scramble up their votes to some degree."
At least that’s my take on it.