Donald Trump's coronavirus diagnosis puts the United States in uncharted territory. A country already plagued by severe economic crisis, racial unrest and the pandemic, wonders what could happen if Covid-19 incapacitates the president a few weeks before election day.
No presidential candidate has ever withdrawn from the race before election day due to illness. What happens if a presidential candidate is sick and has to retire before voting day? In this regard, the Financial Time, the candidate's political party must make a choice.
It is not a constitutional issue but a matter for Republicans and Democrats who have precise internal rules that determine how to handle such a situation.
In Trump's case, the 168 members of the Republican National Committee - which includes senior party officials from every state - would vote to choose a new presidential candidate. Mike Pence, vice president, would be the obvious replacement.
However, the appointment of a new candidate would lead to a number of logistical and legal complications. The state deadlines for registering candidates on the ballot paper have expired and millions of ballots have already been printed, mailed or even returned by voters.
Trump would likely stay in the ballot, but the arcane US constituency system could mean that any replacement chosen by the Republican party could still stand in his place.
Each state chooses a list of voters, who should then vote in the constituency for the candidate who won the popular vote in their state. Many states have laws that require voters to obey or promise to obey the outcome of the popular vote, but it is possible they would vote for replacement in places where Republicans have won.
"It is difficult to imagineinare that they would be sanctioned for violating these laws; in any case, the penalties are so slight that no voter would be discouraged in this situation ", he wrote Richard pildes, electoral law expert at New York University of Law, in the Washington Post.
The Supreme Court this year ruled that voters could be sanctioned for failing to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in their state, but it explicitly left open the possibility that voters could vote differently if the candidate was dead. "We note that as the situation is not before us, nothing in this opinion should be taken to allow states to tie voters to a deceased candidateThe court said.
Is it possible to delay a presidential election? Delaying the elections would be a way to ensure that the process can be restarted with the different candidates, but no presidential election in US history has ever been postponed.
In July, Trump mentioned this possibility.
Trump in the context of his fake news warnings, tweeted: "Postpone elections until people can vote correctly and safely".
However, the power to postpone elections rests with Congress, not the White House. The House of Representatives and the Senate could vote to change the date of the presidential elections by changing the relevant statutes, according to the National Constitution Center. But they cannot indefinitely delay the vote. The constitution does not specify the day on which elections must be held, but provides for a strict deadline: January 20. That's the day the president's term must end.
What happens if a president dies in office? The presidential succession line is much clearer than the question of replacing a presidential candidate midway through the election campaign.
The first in line to replace Trump is his current deputy Mike Pence. After Pence there is Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic spokesperson for the House of Representatives and one of Trump's main opponents. After the Pence there is the Republican senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, pro-tempore president of the Senate.
What happens if the president becomes incapacitated? If the president's ability to perform his duties is impaired by being attached to a respirator, for example, the constitution allows him to notify Congress that the vice president will become interim president.
John Hudak of the Brookings Institution mentioned the relevant constitutional provision - section 3 of the 25th amendment - which was once invoked by Ronald Reagan and twice from George W. Bush for medical procedures "in which anesthesia or heavy sedation was used".
To remove any doubt Trump nine hours ago a live video was released from Walter Reed Medical Center: "I feel much better now thanks to the work of doctors and nurses, I will be back immediately ”.