If the President-Elect dies...

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Fascinating stuff.

I have further queries:

a) So if the Vice President-elect ascends to the presidency, I'm assuming the Vice President will be chosen in the same way Ford was in '74? Is this correct??

also

b) if the President-elect does die before inauguration, will he/she still count as President in the official records/annals? Say if the winner of 2016 dies, will he/she still be the 45th president or will the Vice-president elect who is officially inaugurated be 45??

Yes. No.

[rorschach]

Thanks.

So just to clarify that second point, the president-elect will never be officially recorded as president?

[Simfan34]

Thanks.

So just to clarify that second point, the president-elect will never be officially recorded as president?

That is really less a question for lawyers than it is one for historians.

[pbrower2a]

Fascinating stuff.

I have further queries:

a) So if the Vice President-elect ascends to the presidency, I'm assuming the Vice President will be chosen in the same way Ford was in '74? Is this correct??

It's hard to imagine otherwise.

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The President-elect will have never become President, as he will have never been sworn in as President. No assumption can be made that the President shall have been sworn in. There will be other realities, as "winner of the Electoral Vote". The Vice-President Elect will almost certainly become the President-Elect and have a legally-smooth transition to the Presidency.

Now here is a trickier one. The President-elect (Allen) goes into a coma that he can supposedly emerge from. The Vice-President (Baker) becomes the acting President until the President-Elect (Allen) can and is sworn in as President, and (Baker)  is sworn in as President should the President-Elect (Allen) die. The President-elect (Allen)  may then be assumed to have been President while incapacitated because he had the chance to be sworn in as President. If he gets the chance to swear the oath of office and does not do so (he is convinced that he will die if President), then he (Allen)  never is President, and Baker is assumed to be President all along. The word "Acting" becomes moot. The President-elect  (Allen) may have a moot Presidency, but if he is never able to swear the Oath of Office, then he is still President in the history books and for official purposes. 

So if Allen dies without regaining consciousness or is shown unable to ever swear the Oath of Office, Baker becomes President without qualification and  appoints a Vice-President for Congressional approval.   

[Meclazine for Israel]

You cannot be written in history as a "President" if you did not serve a day in the role.

You need to front up in January.

[Gary J]

I interpret the constitution as providing for a President-elect to become President at the start of the term, so long as he or she is still alive. The significance of taking the oath of office is that it is a precondition for exercising the powers and duties of the office.

It is possible for a President to still be alive at the start of the term, but so severely incapacitated that they cannot take the oath or decide to resign (an Ariel Sharon sort of situation). In such a case the Vice President would have to become acting President. The relevant part of the 25th Amendment, might require some awkward choreography on inauguration day.

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1. Vice President elect is sworn in as Vice President.
2. The Vice President and the members of the outgoing cabinet have a quick meeting to decide that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office and sign the written declarations to hand to the President pro tempore and the Speaker.
3. The Vice President assumes the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.