The Twelfth Amendment

The Twelfth Amendment:

The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--the person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

In less words, this amendment covers the process of electing the President and Vice-President.  Before the 12th amendment the electoral process allowed for the President and Vice-President to be chosen from different parties, which would not happen in the present.  This also explains the role each state plays in the electoral process, and picking one person specifically for each role, rather than having the majority of votes declare the President, and the minority vote to be the Vice-President.

This image clearly shows what the ballot would look like today because of the 12th amendment. It separates the Presidential and Vice-Presidential ballot, whereas before the amendment the candidates all ran for President and out of all four with the one with the majority would become President, and then the second candidate would become Vice-President.

Now for a Constitutional Rap...

The teacher and his students break it down for the 12th amendment! Even while rapping, they get the point across that the election for President and Vice-President must be separated for a better representation.