Originally posted by DrStiffler
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1. Throw out all the votes that went to Obama and McCain, and declare that the next runner-up is by default the actual winner in the election. That would be Ralph Nader. While Ralph did not receive any elecoral college votes in the 2008 election, the electoral college votes received by Obama and McCain would have to be redistributed to all of the candidates who were Constitutionally eligible. Obama would leave office in disgrace, Joe Biden would go with him, and Nader would be sworn in to office without delay to serve until the 2012 election. This would be the simplest solution, with the least disruption, and would on the face of it be fair according to the vote tallies. What wouldn't be fair is that the runner-ups in the Democrat and Republican primaries (Clinton and Romney) should have been on the 2008 ballot, and either of these people would probably have received way more votes than Nader if they had been included.
2. It could be ruled that solution #1 might be unfair since it is unknown how the people who voted for Obama and McCain would have voted had those candidates not been on the ballot. People might well have opted to cast their vote for Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate, or Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate, or Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party candidate. So to be fair, a new election could be called for. To actually be fair, though, only the remaining candidates listed in the 2008 election should be listed in the new ballot, along with the runner-ups in the Republican and Democrat primaries. The question under this solution, though, is how long it would take before a new election decides the result, and who would take the helm while the decision is awaited. Normally that would fall to the Vice President, but in this case where the election results were invalid it would be prudent, and I think demanded, that Biden could not stay. Next in line of succession, as Jim rightly pointed out, is House Speaker Boehner, followed by President Pro Tempore of the Senate Daniel Inouye, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner, and 13 more cabinet members. Boehner has proven to be a lousy Speaker of the House, so it is hard to imagine him acting as President, but it couldn't be worse than what we have now and would only be for a short term.
Rick
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