What Happens if Hillary Drops Out of the Election: It’s Not What You Think

Steven P. AhleNovember 3, 2016

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There has been a lot of speculation and outright lies concerning what happens if a candidate drops out of the presidential race. The first thing you need to know is that Obama has no power to cancel or delay a federal election. That power rests solely with Congress. Even their power is limited. They could vote to delay the election, but they would need to hold the election in December. Presidential terms run out on January 20th, but congressional terms end on January 3rd. But they are not bound to delay the election.

If they do nothing, Election Day remains November 8th. The Democrats have rules in place that would allow them to replace Clinton with someone selected by the elite of the DNC. The Democrats would fight that tooth and nail because there are many early votes already cast for Hillary and those votes would not be transferred to the new candidate.

Moreover, states would have to cancel all votes received during early voting. Or they could cancel just the votes for Hillary. But they cannot change the November 8th date for the election. That would leave them little time to allow re-voting.

No matter the case, Obama leaves office on January 20th regardless. After that, either Joe Biden or Paul Ryan would become acting president until one can be elected.