Legal Definitions - Twelfth Amendment

The Twelfth Amendment is a change to the United States Constitution that was ratified in 1804. It changed the way the electoral college system works by separating the voting for presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Before the Twelfth Amendment, each elector in the electoral college cast two votes for president. The candidate who received the most votes became president, and the runner-up became vice president. This led to some problems, such as when John Adams became president and his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, became his vice president.

The Twelfth Amendment fixed this problem by requiring electors to cast separate votes for president and vice president. This ensures that the president and vice president are from the same political party and have a working relationship.

For example, in the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump and Mike Pence ran as a team for the Republican Party. When the electors in the electoral college cast their votes, they each voted for Trump as president and Pence as vice president. This ensured that both Trump and Pence would be working together in the White House.