Why is the Vice President of United States elected?

[marcus903]

My second thread asking a question regarding the Vice President.

Why is the Vice President of the United States elected? Why can't the Presidential nominee just select him and then have him approved by the United States Senate JUST like the Cabinet?

I don't really think that Biden needed to be elected to be the Vice President but the suggestion I gave above still would bar the President from being able to fire the Vice President anytime he wants.

I just turned 18 this year but has yet to register to vote. I just need to know why the Vice President is elected instead of just being selected.

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is this thred going to get some replies?

[Nathreim]

Hes not elected if the candidate for president wins he wins the VP.

[Blueobelisk]

Because he's the new president if the president ever dies, and he's the 2nd in command, supposed to be in charge of a lot of stuffs. So the people should know exactly who they are voting for for that position, whereas the other ones aren't as significant.

[Kulanae]

Because the opposing party could stall the vice presidential nomination and then assasinate the President allowing the Speaker of the House to become the new President and effectively perform a party coup.

[Åmbulance]

Umm yea, he's not elected. He's chosen by the presidential nominee.

[Kujako]

Why is the Vice President of the United States elected? Why can't the Presidential nominee just select him and then have him approved by the United States Senate JUST like the Cabinet?

He's not elected, he is selected by the Presidential candidate. When you vote, you are voting for a President/Vice President combination. However it didn't used to be this way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth...s_Constitution

Basically, it used to be that you could vote for two people. The person with the most votes because President and the person with the next highest number of votes became VP. But they changed that (see 12th amendment) after it caused a major mess in the electoral college in ~1796.

[Tirivaria]

Basically, it used to be that you could vote for two people. The person with the most votes because President and the person with the next highest number of votes became VP. But they changed that (see 12th amendment) after it caused a major mess in the electoral college in ~1796.

The way the election process for President was conceived was based on the political realities of the time. The convention that eventually drafted the Constitution was formed because the Articles of Confederation under which the US was functioning since the Revolution was proving to be unworkable once the country wasn't facing the immediate danger of fighting a war with the British. They drafted the Constitution to more tightly bind the states together while bearing in mind that the typical person of the day would consider himself to be a citizen of his state rather than of the country called the "United States of America" (the term American referred to the native peoples).

So they devised the system where each state would have electors who would each vote for two people, one of whom could not be a resident of that electors state. The idea was that every elector would inevitably vote for someone from his own state with one vote. The second vote be for the most tolerable person from another state. Thus, the framers of the Constitution believed, the person who got the most of those "second" votes would be the most tolerable to the greatest number of states.

The Twelfth Amendment made it so the electors voted explicitly for one person to be President and one to be Vice President. This adapted our Presidential elections to the party system like we have today instead of the state/regional factionalism that the framers of the Constitution saw in the political landscape of their time.

[Celista]

I just turned 18 this year but has yet to register to vote. I just need to know why the Vice President is elected instead of just being selected.

He's not elected, he's selected by the presidential candidate. Wasn't this covered in one of your social studies courses?

[Kaleredar]

Wasn't this covered in one of your social studies courses?

Only one? I'm sure it was covered in many.


As has been said, the vice president isn't elected... no clue what would lead the OP to think so.

[Twotonsteak]

I just turned 18 this year but has yet to register to vote. I just need to know why the Vice President is elected instead of just being selected.

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is this thred going to get some replies?

Is the public school system THAT bad that, by legal voting age, you don't have even a basic understanding of the election process?

Because if things are really this bad than we need to raise the legal voting age.

[Beergod]

Not elected, chosen by the presidential candidate.

[zephid]

I'm Swedish and even I know that the vice president of the united states isn't elected.

[Belloc]

Technically, you're electing both the president and the vice president. They're a package deal. It's not like you vote for the president and THEN he chooses a VP.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

He's not elected, he's selected by the presidential candidate. Wasn't this covered in one of your social studies courses?

They essentially are. When was the last time a president was elected and the vice president ended up being somebody other than their running mate?

[Twotonsteak]

Because they're somehow going to acquire this knowledge between graduating from their final academic institution and the new voting age?

Better idea: better public school system.

Nope.

I support raising the legal voting age. I don't think anyone should be allowed to vote (for President) until they've experienced the effects of Presidential policies. Go out, work a full time job (or several part time jobs these days), get an apartment or home, be "mature." Experience the reality and result of elections.

[mvaliz]

I'm Swedish and even I know that the vice president of the united states isn't elected.

Well... TECHNICALLY it's 50/50. You do actually elect the VP/Pres together, you just don't SPECIFICALLY elect the VP individually.

The VP is chosen by the President, and then you vote on the combo. The VP choice by the President is considered by many as a 1st example of decision making prowess. This is one of the many reasons why Obama/Biden won in 08, while John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin...lost.

[Kaleredar]

Is the public school system THAT bad that, by legal voting age, you don't have even a basic understanding of the election process?

Because if things are really this bad than we need to raise the legal voting age.

Any high school government class would have said it. 8th grade history would have said it. I'm sure it was "said" at some point in their education.

But that doesn't mean students listen.

[Celista]

They essentially are. When was the last time a president was elected and the vice president ended up being somebody other than their running mate?

Well if you want to get technical, yes you elect the pres candidate + vp candidate as a package deal.

If the OP was asking why this package deal occurs, it would be to prevent candidates from doing things like selling the VP seat, nepotism etc if the president-elect simply chose someone after winning the election. There would be no system of checks and balance in place...the president/VP work together as a team, it would make sense for a president elect to choose a running mate that he knows will work well with him for whatever reason. Electing a vice presidential candidate separately from the president could lead to a lot of dissension, particularly if the VP and President were not from the same political party and/or had fundamental differences regarding key political beliefs.

A vice president should be someone that balances out a presidential ticket, so having a presidential candidate select his own VP has other advantages as well.

Hope this more clearly answers the OP's question.

[Wells]

Ask John McCain if a Vice President has to be elected.

This is really the best answer for the question really.

[statlerthegreat]

Is the public school system THAT bad that, by legal voting age, you don't have even a basic understanding of the election process?

Because if things are really this bad than we need to raise the legal voting age.

No it isn't.

Failure to understand how the Vice President is selected, outside of special circumstances, is not a problem with the school system. Its a problem with the potential voter.