Here is something to ponder though it is amazingly unlikely. What if no one reached 270 electoral votes (or a majority of the popular vote) and the election was therefore thrown to the House of Representatives? After the inconclusive election, there is no mechanism for replacing a candidate who dies. If one of those candidates were to die (heart attack, assassination, etc.), the House would not be allowed to choose the VP nominee instead. Thus, assassination in the wake of an inconclusive election could be extremely effective in picking the president.
This problem becomes ever more likely as there is the move toward proportional electoral votes. In the winner-take-all system that has existed, a third party candidate rarely gets any electoral votes. Ross Perot got nearly 20% of the popular vote in 1992 but earned 0 electoral votes. Under a proportional system, Clinton's electoral landslide (370 to 168) would have instead been decided in the House of Representatives. Also under such a system, Dole would have won in 1996. That is a discussion for a different post.
It is extremely unlikely that a candidate will die in the narrow space between the election (early November) and the convening of the new Congress (early January). Nonetheless, with the two lead candidates nearly 70 years old, it would not be a bad idea to be prepared. Both parties could get on board prior to the danger but if one or the other happened to die in December, the other party might block any efforts to assure their candidate wins in January.
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