# What happens if a presidential nominee dies before the election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-presidential-nominee-dies-before-the-election/462231 "2008-09-05T20:07:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-presidential-nominee-dies-before-the-election/462231/1 "2008-09-05T20:07:03Z")
God forbid either person running for president (I’m sorry Mssrs. Nader and Barr, but you don’t count) should pass on in the near future, but if should happen, what happens if either dies before election day? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-presidential-nominee-dies-before-the-election/462231/2 "2008-09-05T20:09:32Z")
The national party leadership will nominate a new candidate (most likely the existing VP nominee) to run for President. Remember, the President and VP are really elected by the Electoral College, and Electors will generally vote for whomever their party tells them to. So it doesn’t even matter if your guy dies the day after all the ballots are printed. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-presidential-nominee-dies-before-the-election/462231/3 "2008-09-05T20:48:01Z")
Here’s the text from the rules of the RNC: > [@](#): > > RULE NO. 9 > Filling Vacancies in Nominations > (a) The Republican National Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise of the Republican candidate for President of the United States or the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States, as nominated by the national convention, or the Republican National Committee may reconvene the national convention for the purpose of filling any such vacancies. > > (b) In voting under this rule, the Republican National Committee members representing any state shall be entitled to cast the same number of votes as said state was entitled to cast at the national convention. > > (c) In the event that the members of the Republican National Committee from any state shall not be in agreement in the casting of votes hereunder, the votes of such state shall be divided equally, including fractional votes among the members of the Republican National Committee present or voting by proxy. > > (d) No candidate shall be chosen to fill any such vacancy except upon receiving a majority of the votes entitled to be cast in the election. I’m sure the Democrats have an equivalent rule but I didn’t find it in my limited Google search. The various states have different deadline dates for producing final ballots. Depending on the exact date of death and replacement, the ballot may or may not reflect the actual candidate. The name of the ballot doesn’t matter because, as friedo says, you are not voting for a candidate for the electors to represent that candidate in the Electoral College. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-presidential-nominee-dies-before-the-election/462231/4 "2008-09-05T21:52:36Z")
Do a little searching. This question has been asked and answered about 15 times this year. Well, maybe not 15, but more than once. 🙂