A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution to provide for the direct popular election of the President and Vice President of the United States.
Latest action. Measure failed of passage in Senate, roll call #161 (51-48).
(Measure failed of passage in Senate, roll call #161 (51-48)) Constitutional Amendment - Provides that the people of the several States, and the District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall elect the President and Vice President. Requires each elector to cast a single vote for two persons who shall have consented to the joining of their names as candidates for the offices of President and Vice President. Requires the electors of President and Vice President in each State to have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature, except that for electors of President and Vice President, the legislature of any State may prescribe less restrictive residence qualifications and for electors of President and Vice President the Congress may establish uniform residence qualifications. Provides that the pair of persons having the greatest number of votes for President and Vice President shall be elected, if such number is at least 40 percent of the whole number of votes cast. Provides that if no pair of persons has such number, a runoff election shall be held in which the choice of President and Vice President shall be made from the two pairs of persons who received the highest numbers of votes. Requires the days for such elections to be determined by Congress and to be uniform throughout the United States. Requires Congress to prescribe by law the time, place, and manner in which the results for such elections shall be ascertained and declared. Allows Congress to provide for the case of the death, inability, or withdrawal of any candidate for President or Vice President before a President and Vice President have been elected, and for the case of the death of both the President-elect and Vice President-elect.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Failed of passage in Senate" stage on July 10, 1979. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This joint resolution failed the vote the record describes below. A measure that fails is not revived; the same text has to be introduced again as a new measure.
The record's latest action, on July 10, 1979: Measure failed of passage in Senate, roll call #161 (51-48).
What is a joint resolution, exactly?
A joint resolution travels the same road as a bill: both chambers pass it and the President signs it, and it then has the same force as any other law. The label is largely a matter of custom, often used for narrow or time-limited measures.
One exception matters. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution is not sent to the President at all. It goes to the states, and three quarters of them have to ratify it.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
BIRCH BAYH (D-IN) introduced it on January 25, 1979, and 36 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 24 Democrats, 12 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateDid not advance · July 10, 1979
- HouseNot reached
- PresidentNot reached