Hillary's Health Prompts the Question: What If a Nominee Dies?

It seems like the opening chapter of some political potboiler: the Democratic nominee and odds-on-favorite to be the next U.S. president staggers abruptly from a public event and appears close to fainting, raising questions nationwide and in the 24-hour-news channel about her health.

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But amid the growing public scrutiny of Hillary Clinton's health, another, more morbid question, goes unasked: what happens if a presidential nominee dies before an election?

The answer is even murkier than what ails Clinton. According to an explainer published in Slate in the runup to the 2008 elections–when similar questions dogged GOP nominee John McCain, there are some protocols in place should a presidential nominee die. None of them, however, are set in stone.

Perhaps what's most important to note is that in neither of the two major political parties does a running mate automatically ascend to the top of the ticket following the death of a nominee. That was of particular importance in 2008, when McCain's running mate was the much-ridiculed Alaskan Governor, Sara Palin.

Should Trump kick the bucket, the rules of the Republican Party dictate that the Republican National Committee would have the authority to fill the vacant spot, either by hosting a national convention or by having RNC state representatives vote. The new nominee would be obliged to have a majority vote to become the party’s candidate.

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Similarly, if Clinton’s health should deteriorate, the Democratic Party’s charter and bylaws stipulate that the responsibility for choosing her successor falls to the Democratic National Committee, but the rules don’t state how that would happen specifically.

While federal law does not stipulate how citizens should vote, there are some guidelines that state when an elector’s preferred candidate dies, and their party has not chosen a clear successor, they can vote for the party’s VP candidate. But individual state laws may override this, as each state has the power to determine specifically how electoral votes should be cast.

But if the newly-elected president dies after the election, but before being inaugurated, the vice president-elect automatically assumes the role of the most powerful position on Earth.

Former MSNBC anchor David Schuster posted on social media Sunday that top “Democrat operatives” have told him to “expect emergency DNC meeting to CONSIDER replacement,” for the ailing Clinton.