The Constitutional Duties of the Vice-President
- The Constitution defines the vice president as the president of the Senate. This makes the vice president the presiding officer in the Senate, although in modern times it is relatively unusual for him to actually carry out this duty unless he is swearing in new senators or if there is a joint session of Congress. Generally the day-to-day running of the Senate is delegated to junior senators from the majority party, to help them learn the procedure.
- As he is not serving as a senator while in office, the vice president generally cannot vote in the Senate. In the unusual event of a tied vote, however, the vice president is given the tie-breaking vote. For a time during the 107th Congress, the Senate was divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. Vice President Dick Cheney was hence influential, as he was able to give the deciding vote to his Republican Party.
- The vice president presides over the counting of the Electoral College votes, which elect the president -- and the vice president. This count is done in the January after the presidential election, prior to the president being sworn in, and has led to four vice presidents counting out the votes that elected them president. In addition, two vice presidents, Richard Nixon in 1961 and Al Gore 40 years later, counted the votes from elections they had just lost.
- The other duty defined for the vice president in the Constitution is that of deputy to the president. This is his only other formal power outside of the Senate -- should the president resign, die or be medically incapacitated, the vice president assumes his office. Nine vice presidents have ascended to a vacated presidency in this fashion as of 2011, four due to assassination, four due to natural death, and one, Gerald Ford, due to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.