If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.
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Preamble · Seven Articles
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Amendment XX · Section 3
3 selectable clauses · PDF page 16
Notes supplied with the source text
Passed by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23, 1933. (Note: Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution was modified by Section 2 of this Amendment. In addition, a portion of the 12th Amendment was superseded by Section 3.)
Source: the uploaded National Constitution Center edition. Historical wording and its bracket markers remain visible; later amendments and the reading notes explain changes.
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