Twelfth Amendment

American  

noun

1. an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1804, providing for election of the president and vice president by the Electoral College: should there be no majority vote for one person, the House of Representatives (one vote per state) chooses the president and the Senate the vice president.

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Usage

What is the Twelfth Amendment? The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution changed the rules of the Electoral College so that electors must cast separate votes for the president and vice president. The Twelfth Amendment also spells out what to do if there is no majority in the Electoral College. It was adopted in 1804.There have been 27 amendments, or additions, to the Constitution (the supreme law of the U.S. that defines the powers and limitations of the government).The Electoral College is the group of electors who cast votes for president and vice president. It is made up of a certain number of representatives from each state. These representatives are selected first by political parties and then by voters in the general election. (So, in a presidential election, voters are actually voting for electors who have pledged to vote for a specific president and vice president.)The Twelfth Amendment, along with the existence of political parties, makes it so that presidents will always have a vice president from their party.

Example Sentences

The election was thrown into the House of Representatives because of the quirk in the electoral college—subsequently corrected by the Twelfth Amendment—which gave Burr and Jefferson the same number of votes without specifying which candidate headed the ticket.

From Literature

"The Twelfth Amendment and the Electoral Count Act of 1887 already make it entirely clear that the Vice President merely opens the envelopes," he wrote.

From Salon

Drafting history of the Twelfth Amendment.

From Slate

Congress’s actions in the years preceding the Twelfth Amendment’s ratification tell us volumes about its meaning.

From Slate

That fix came in 1804 with the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment.

From Slate