Welcome to a Constitutional Convention

Introduction

  1. Declarations

    2.  
  2. Legislative Branch

    3.  
  3. Executive Branch

    4.  
  4. Judicial Branch

    5.  
  5. Electoral Branch

    6.  
  6. Nominations & Elections

    7.  
  7. Federal Service

    8.  
  8. Federal Finance

    9.  
  9. Authority & Responsibility

    10.  
  10. Citizenship

    11.  
  11. Limits on Government Power

    12.  
  12. Amendments

Nomination & Election Schedule
To comment, go to the blog by clicking on any underlined article or section title below.

VI.  NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS

A.  State Delegates to the Federal Nominating Convention

1.  Governors or Acting Governors of the states will be delegates to the Federal Nominating Convention.

2.  On or before the second Tuesday in January of even-numbered years, the legislators of the each state will meet as one body, divide into caucuses, and select delegates to the Federal Nominating Convention.  Each caucus shall include at least 26% of the legislators, unless one caucus has more than 74% of the legislators, in which case a second caucus will be formed[1]. 

3.  The total number of delegates selected by each state legislature will be twice the number of Representatives from that state:

  1. Within the total of state delegates, each caucus will select delegates in proportion to its size.
  2. Persons selected must be eligible to serve as Representative from that state. 
  3. At least half of those selected by each caucus must not currently hold an elected or appointed position in any level of government.

B. Federal Nominating Convention[2]

1.  On the second Tuesday in February of even-numbered years, the Federal Nominating Convention will convene in a city chosen by the House of Representatives.  Delegates will be the state governors and those selected by the state legislators with a vote of one each and the Senators and Representatives with a vote of two each[3]. 

2.  The delegates will divide into caucuses.  Each caucus shall include at least 26% of the votes, unless one caucus has more than 74% of the votes, in which case a second caucus will be formed.  Delegates will join the caucus of their choice without regard to their method of selection or statements made prior to the convening of the Convention. 

3.  In years divisible by four, each caucus will nominate a candidate for President.  The nominee will then name his or her choice of Vice President, make a public statement of a program to be implemented if elected, and request the support of the delegates in the election campaign and future government.

4.  Delegates not supporting the Presidential nominee will withdraw.  If there are only two caucuses, a third caucus may be created at any time by the assembly of delegates with at least 26% of the total votes present at the Convention[4].

5.  After the nomination of the President is settled, those Senators from districts to be contested will withdraw, and each caucus will nominate a slate of candidates for the seven Senatorial seats due for election and for the unexpired term of any Senatorial seat occupied by an appointee[5].

6.  In even-numbered years not divisible by four, delegates will convene in the Federal Nominating Convention with weighted votes as for the presidential nomination but without those Senators from districts to be contested.  As for the presidential nomination, the delegates will divide into caucuses, and each caucus will nominate a slate of candidates for the seven senatorial seats due for election and for the unexpired term of any Senatorial seat occupied by an appointee.

7.  The names of the persons selected in the Federal Nominating Convention will be the only choices for voters in the subsequent election for federal offices, except that federal law predating the Federal Nominating Convention will make provision for a substitution when a nominee dies or is incapacitated before the date of the election.

C. Nominations for Representatives and State-wide Offices

Before the end of the third week of February, nominations for state or territorial and local officers will be set according to state laws that meet federal standards:

  1. In even-numbered years not divisible by four, for state offices with a four-year term.
  2. In odd-numbered years, for Representatives and for state or territorial and local offices with a two-year term.

D. Elections Days

1.  Elections will be held on the first or second weekend in April[6].

  1. In years divisible by four, for the President and Senators.
  2. In even-numbered years not divisible by four, for Senators and for state or territorial offices and local offices with a four-year term[7].
  3. In odd-numbered years, for Representatives and for state or territorial offices and local offices with a two-year term[8].

2.  States and local governments may add measures submitted to the direct vote of the electorate to the ballot at any election defined herein and may otherwise hold special elections.

E.  Election Winners

1.  The President is elected by the voters in all of the Representative Districts in the states and territories.  A Senator is elected by the voters of the Representative Districts in his or her Senatorial District.  For President and for Senator, the winner will be determined by a count of the Representative Districts in which the candidate receives the plurality of the votes cast.  If the count of Representative Districts does not determine the winning candidate, then the winner will be determined by the plurality of the total votes cast[9]. 

2.  For a Representative, the winner will be the candidate receiving the plurality of the popular vote within the district.  

3.  Federal law predating the Federal Nominating convention will define what happens when an elected federal official dies or is incapacitated before assuming office.

4.  Following the election, the newly elected or re-elected[10]:

  1. Representatives will take their oath and assume office at noon on the fourth Tuesday in April in odd-numbered years.
  2. Senators will take their oath and assume office at noon on the first Tuesday in May in even-numbered years.
  3. President and Vice President will take their oath and assume office in a public ceremony at the Capitol at noon on the third Tuesday in May in years divisible by four.

Footnotes:

[1] Each caucus of the state legislatures will almost always be made up of persons from the same political party.  The minimum size of 26% of the legislators means that three, but not four, caucuses are possible.  

[2] Primary elections for federal offices are eliminated.  With simultaneous caucuses, the national Federal Nominating Convention is designed to provide compelling political theater – in contrast to the empty staged events now ignored by television and the electorate.  Presumably candidates will appear before the caucuses.

[3] With a citizen population of 300 million, there will be about 2,620 delegates: 21 Senators, an estimated 845 Representatives from states plus 12 from territories, 50 governors (more if big states divide themselves), and 1,690 selected state delegates.  With two votes each, the votes of the Senators and Representative will approximately equal the votes of the state governors and selected delegates.

[4] The possibility of a third party stays open through the end of the Convention.

[5] The delegates from all the states and territories (who select the Presidential nominee every other Convention) select the Senatorial nominees who will then run for election within districts.  Within the caucus of a party candidates must have something of a national reputation to be nominated, which is why a slate of seven nominees (plus those filling vacant seats) may be a practical maximum.  Reinforcing the idea of a political party, the Presidential and Senatorial nominees will share a basic political philosophy, but as a practical matter, the Senatorial nominees must temper their expressions of allegiance to the doctrines of their national party in order to be elected in a regional district.  

[6] From nomination to election, the campaigns are limited to from 11 to 13 weeks of winter. 

[7] As a provision to encourage voting, the elections for important state-wide and local offices take place along with the election of Senators in the non-presidential years.


[8] The elections for Representatives take place in odd-numbered years; thus the Representatives can take part in the Federal Nominating Convention without simultaneously running an election campaign.  States will have their own procedures, under federal standards, for selecting candidates for state and local offices and for Representatives. 

[9] Since the Representative Districts should each have a random sample of the electorate, it is very unlikely that a nominee who wins plurality of Districts would fail to win a plurality of the raw vote.

[10] The interregnum is shortened to two or three weeks for the Legislative Branch and to five or six weeks for the Executive Branch.


Back to Top