If the POTUS-elect and VP-elect both die between the Electors' meeting and 1/20

[All Along The Watchtower]

...what happens?

(Highly unlikely scenario, of course, but eh. )

[Gary J]

If neither a President elect or a Vice President elect qualifies for inauguration, then Congress has the constitutional power to decide. Part of the 20th Amendment provides:-

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Unless Congress, faced with this situation, decides to make special legal provision; presumable the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 would apply which would probably result in the Speaker of the House becoming Acting President.

[SteveRogers]

If neither a President elect or a Vice President elect qualifies for inauguration, then Congress has the constitutional power to decide. Part of the 20th Amendment provides:-

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Unless Congress, faced with this situation, decides to make special legal provision; presumable the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 would apply which would probably result in the Speaker of the House becoming Acting President.

This.

This Speaker of the House would become Acting President and would serve out the whole term.

[Sir Mohamed]

If neither a President elect or a Vice President elect qualifies for inauguration, then Congress has the constitutional power to decide. Part of the 20th Amendment provides:-

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Unless Congress, faced with this situation, decides to make special legal provision; presumable the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 would apply which would probably result in the Speaker of the House becoming Acting President.

This.

This Speaker of the House would become Acting President and would serve out the whole term.

Intersting that he or she wouldn't count as official prez, leaving the number (46 for example) empty for four years.

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

Why only Acting President? Wouldn't the speaker be sworn in as acting president but then immediately be bumped up to actual President as per the 25th amendment since both Pres and VP offices are vacant?

[Vosem]

If neither a President elect or a Vice President elect qualifies for inauguration, then Congress has the constitutional power to decide. Part of the 20th Amendment provides:-

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Unless Congress, faced with this situation, decides to make special legal provision; presumable the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 would apply which would probably result in the Speaker of the House becoming Acting President.

This.

This Speaker of the House would become Acting President and would serve out the whole term.

There is a catch -- an Acting President has the right to appoint, given Senate confirmation, a full Vice President; in the event of the Presidency being vacant (which it technically is when there is an Acting President), that person then ascends to the Presidency. The Speaker of the House would have to remain Speaker to be acting President, so really it is more accurate to say that the Speaker would nominate someone, contingent on the approval of the Senate, to be the President. Which could be themselves, or anyone they choose.

[Slander and/or Libel]

If neither a President elect or a Vice President elect qualifies for inauguration, then Congress has the constitutional power to decide. Part of the 20th Amendment provides:-

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Unless Congress, faced with this situation, decides to make special legal provision; presumable the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 would apply which would probably result in the Speaker of the House becoming Acting President.

This.

This Speaker of the House would become Acting President and would serve out the whole term.

There is a catch -- an Acting President has the right to appoint, given Senate confirmation, a full Vice President; in the event of the Presidency being vacant (which it technically is when there is an Acting President), that person then ascends to the Presidency. The Speaker of the House would have to remain Speaker to be acting President, so really it is more accurate to say that the Speaker would nominate someone, contingent on the approval of the Senate, to be the President. Which could be themselves, or anyone they choose.

Actually, the Speaker only becomes Acting President contingent on resignation of his/her seat in Congress, per the PSA of 1947.

[Catalunya]

What if something like this happened after the 1944 election with Roosevelt/Willkie elected and both dying after the electors met?

[brucejoel99]

What if something like this happened after the 1944 election with Roosevelt/Willkie elected and both dying after the electors met?

Well, the 20th Amendment was adopted in 1933, so its provision that "the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect 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," would've applied.

And with the 1944 election (obviously) taking place prior to the passage of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, it would be the Presidential Succession Act that was then in effect, passed in 1886, that would've applied in this case.

So, if a Roosevelt/Willkie ticket had been elected in 1944 (or hell, even if it was just the same tickets of Roosevelt/Truman or Dewey/Bricker) but both had died between the meeting of the electoral college in mid-Dec. & the inauguration on Jan. 20th, then according to the Presidential Succession Act of 1886 (which left out congressional officers from the line of succession), Secretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr. would've become Acting President & would've then served out the whole term through Jan. 20th, 1949.*

* Side-note: Edward Stettinius Jr. died on Oct. 31st, 1949, so if he would've had to have served out the 1945-49 term, then he quite possibly would've died mid-term as well, meaning Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. (or whomever Stettinius, as Acting President, had chosen to serve as his Treasury Secretary) would've then ascended to the acting presidency, given the fact that the 1886 Presidential Succession Act (unlike the current 1947 Act) didn't mandate that any Cabinet officer who accedes to the acting presidency must resign their Cabinet post, i.e. Stettinius would've continued to serve as Secretary of State while simultaneously serving as Acting President &, thus, there'd be no Secretary of State to succeed him as Acting President upon his death.