Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R), is among the Top Candidates for Trum's pick for Vice-President, but there's a Obstacle standing in His way, His Florida address.
The 12th Amendment to the Constitution states that Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates running on the same Ticket "shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves." Currently, both Trump and Rubio claim Residency in Florida.
It boils down to Electors. The Party Loyalists nominated by a State's Political Party to pledge support to the Nominee. The Electoral College is made up of 538 of these Electors, and 270 Electoral Votes are needed for a Candidate to clinch the White House.
The number of Electors apportioned to States is based on Population, and Florida has a crucial 30 Electoral Votes.
The 12th Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1804, to modify the Electoral College Process, specifically how the President and Vice-President are Selected.
If Trump selected Rubio as His running mate, Electors from Florida could Not Vote for both Trump and Rubio under the 12th Amendment. But it would be allowed for Electors from the other 49 States to Vote for both.
"So, it is not prohibited to have both candidates from the same state; it just sacrifices their chances of winning a full slate of electoral votes from their home state," Thomas Berry, a Legal Fellow at the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and the Editor-in-Chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review, said.
Laurence Tribe, Professor Emeritus of Constitutional Law at Harvard University, said that in "concrete terms" this means that "none of Florida's 30 electoral votes may be cast this December for both Trump and Rubio unless Rubio or Trump 'ceases to be an inhabitant' of Florida before Dec. 17, 2024," which is when the Electoral College Votes.
It's doubtful that Trump would change His Residency from Florida, having made it His Primary Residence in 2019, changing it from New York. So, it would fall on Rubio to change His Residency.
"Thus, it follows that Trump can't select Rubio as his running mate without sacrificing those crucial 30 votes toward his needed 270, which he of course wouldn't do unless Rubio abandons his Florida residence before the election," Tribe said.
There is a precedent of a Vice-Presidential pick changing their Residency to Secure their State's Electoral Vote. In the 2000 Presidential Election, former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney Changed His Residency from Texas to Wyoming, to be on the Ticket with George W. Bush.
Tribe also says that there is a possibility that Rubio could still maintain His Senate Seat even if He does change His Florida Residency.
"Article I, Section 3 merely requires that a senator 'when elected' be 'an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen,' and Rubio was indeed an inhabitant of Florida when elected to his current term, his third, in November 2022," Tribe said.
"Despite the constitutional anomaly of someone serving as a senator of a state that he no longer inhabits, if Rubio could convince people that he no longer is a Florida resident, then Trump could legally pick him."
Due to His ties to Nevada, that State has been rumored as a possible Residency for Rubio to select. The Florida Senator spent time in Nevada as a Child, when His Family lived there for several years between 1979 and 1985.
Rubio has remained Mum on Changing His Residency, to Secure a spot on Trump's Presidential Ticket.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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