What happens if a presidential or vice presidential nominee dies before Election Day?
The national parties would replace the candidates. Both the Republican and Democratic National Committees have rules to address this situation. Has this ever happened? Yes, in 1912, Republican President William Howard Taft’s vice president, James S. Sherman, died six days before the election. Sherman’s name remained on the ballot. After the election, the Republican National Committee replaced Sherman with Nicholas M. Butler. Republicans won only eight Electoral College votes during Democrat Woodrow Wilson’s landslide victory. What if the president-elect dies before the Electoral College votes? “It would still be theoretically in the hands of the national committees,” said Walter Berns, author of “After the People Vote,” a study of post-election issues. Sherman’s bill recommends that the parties name stand-by candidates at their nominating conventions. But members of the Electoral College are chosen by the parties, Berns said, and these “independent actors” may not like the replacement
