If 2020 elections are not conducted in November, who becomes US President, NC Governor?

              With a strange and somewhat complicated twist, Bernie Sanders could become the next President of the United States without being the nominee of the Democratic Party. Read on…

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                The coronavirus and its COVID-19 illness are changing the way we do anything going forward. For instance, politics and, specifically, elections.

                As early as the 1960 elections (at age 8), I tagged along with my Mom and Dad to the west Sanford (NC) voting site—the Jaycee hut—to watch democracy in action and my parents socialize with neighbors and friends who lived throughout the district.

Dad would put in a last-minute plug for his candidates before Mom, Dad and I squeezed into the voting booth and closed the curtain behind us. My parents pulled the various levers to cast their ballots. Sometimes they let me flip the switch.

I’m reminded that in my lifetime, we’ve gone from paper ballots counted by hand to machine voting and back to paper ballots read by computers and others in between and beyond. Early voting has been added in North Carolina and other states, but not all, such as mega-state New York.

Voting is a serious business as it should be. It should also be one of the easiest responsibilities we have. Those who make election and voting policy should remember that. There has been discussion of creating a national holiday on election day, but I believe that would do less to turn out the vote and do more to create a four-day (Saturday-Tuesday) vacation in early November.

                Now, due to the coronavirus, the discussion about voting by mail has erupted. We already have it, of sorts, with absentee voting. But this is and would be different.

Voting by mail is a well-worth-it remedy for keeping us safe from illness and stopping further spread of COVID-19. This is mid-April, but in early November the virus and its spread will continue to be an issue. We must be able to mix safety with voting.

With millions wanting to take part in the 2020 elections, social distancing at the polls may not be enough in the effort to control the spread. Voting at home is better and should be the way most citizens vote. Eventually we might get to vote using our smart phones and home computers. These methods would be better than unsafe in-person voting or, maybe, postponement of the elections.

                Since I brought it up, you may ask, is there a chance the 2020 elections will be postponed? There’s always that possibility but, I suggest, little probability.

                With postponement on the table, this question was asked recently: What happens to the Presidency and other elected offices if there is no election in November or December or January?

                The short and quick answer is this: Senator Chuck Grassley, the then 87-year old Republican Senator from Iowa, would be sworn in as President of the United States on Jan. 20, 2021 at high noon. At that time, Donald J. Trump would cease being the President. Here’s why.

                The United States Constitution stipulates the President and the Vice President are elected to four-year terms which end on Inauguration Day four years after taking office. With no election, President Trump’s term expires on Jan. 20, 2021, no ifs, ands, or buts. He and Mike Pence would be out of office.

                After the President and Vice President, next in line of succession to the Presidency is the Speaker of the United States House Representatives who is now Nancy Pelosi, but, with no election for members of the House, none of the members of House would be in office because none would have been elected to two-year terms and those terms end Jan. 3. Meaning the House would be completely vacant of representation.

                After the House Speaker comes the President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate who, right now, is Grassley. Since he is not up for re-election this year, his term as U.S. Senator continues as would his position as Pro Tempore, unless the Senate selects another returning Senator. This is where it gets trickier.

                This year, 2020, there are 36 races for the U.S. Senate: 24 Republican-held seats and 12 Democratic-held seats. If the elections are not held for those seats, instead of there being 100 Senators, there would be just 64 and the balance of power would flip to the Democrats on Jan. 3. Instead of the Senate configured with 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two Independents (who usually vote with the Democrats), there would be 29 Republicans, 37 Democrats, and two Independents.

With the Democrats in the majority, any of those in office could be elected President Pro Tempore. The office is usually more honorary than meaningful with the oldest serving Senator of the majority party usually selected and elected. For the Democrats, 80-year-old Patrick Leahy of Vermont would be in line, and, as President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate, he would be in line to take the oath of office as President on Jan. 20, 2021, if there is no election for President or Congress prior to that date.

And this is where Bernie Sanders enters the picture.

Instead of Leahy, the Democrats, now controlling the Senate, could select any sitting Senator, to be President Pro Tempore, so how about Sanders, the other Senator from Vermont. What a twisted tale that would be!

On the state level (where constitutions control successions of power in different ways) and specifically in North Carolina, with no election, Governor Roy Cooper, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, and the other elected members of the Council of State would retain their offices after the four-year term which expires in early January.

The N.C. Constitution says of executive level office-holders, Their term of office shall be four years and shall commence on the first day of January next after their election and continue until their successors are elected and qualified. So, it appears, Gov. Cooper would stay on until the election is held.

As far as the N.C. Senate and House of Representatives, the entire General Assembly would be left vacant because the Constitution says those offices are elected for two-year terms and there is no wording, other than being re-elected, that keeps those office-holders in office once the two-year term is expires.

Gov. Cooper is allowed to appoint, with restrictions, vacancies in the General Assembly but not having or postponing an election that creates the vacancy is not addressed while death, resignation, and impeachment are.

Some think current President Donald J. Trump would remain as President if there elections are not held this fall. But, without elections prior to inauguration days, it’s apparent on a national level and in North Carolina, the Democratic Party would have the upper hand, at least at this point.

Crazy stuff, huh?

Sure is. Hopefully, we’ll have an election this fall and not watch this type of Democracy in action. With any luck and a lot of convincing, we’ll have voting by mail.

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Memo to Bernie Sanders and your supporters: Don’t get your hopes up!