The
Twelfth Amendment (
Amendment XII) to the
United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the
President and
Vice President. It replaced Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, which provided the original procedure by which the
Electoral College functioned. Problems with the original procedure arose in the elections of
1796 and
1800. The Twelfth Amendment refined the process whereby a President and a Vice President are elected by the Electoral College. The amendment was proposed by the
Congress on December 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three–fourths of
state legislatures on June 15, 1804.