From that page the first question is;
Question: What happens if the President-elect fails to qualify before inauguration?
Answer:
If the President-elect fails to qualify before inauguration, Section 3 of the 20th Amendment states that the Vice President-elect will act as President until such a time as a President has qualified.Then further down on that page is another question.
Question: Who verifies if a candidate is qualified to run for President?
Answer:
The Office of the Federal Register at the National Archives and Records Administration administers the Electoral College process, which takes place after the November general election. The Office of the Federal Register does not have the authority to handle issues related to the general election, such as candidate qualifications. People interested in this issue may wish to contact their state election officials or their Congressional Representatives.
In light of this answer I emailed the contact for that page the following.
From: Greg XXXXXXXI think there should be transcripts of some past joint sessions where eligibility is discussed. IE Chester Arthur for instance or maybe perhaps President number 10, John Tyler, who was one of the first NBC Presidents.
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 3:23 PM
To: 'electoral_college@nara.gov'
Subject: US Code 3On this page "Previous Questions of The Week." here http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/previous_questions.html
There are two questions I would like to address, the First one is "What happens if the President-elect fails to qualify before inauguration?" And the answer is correct as it states the process described in the 20th amendment and US Code 3 Sec 19. US Code 3 describes the process of counting the electoral vote for President and Vice President during a joint session of congress.
Then a subsequent question "Who verifies if a candidate is qualified to run for President?" That answer is not very specific. You mention the Office of Federal Register at the National Archives but go on to state it is a states issue. Well in section 11 we see the first mention of the Archivist. But there are three other copies of the certificates, one set being delivered to the President of the Senate. Then is section 15 we see that two tellers from each house previously selected and are handed the certificates for opening and are dealt with in an alphabetical order. It goes on to explain and clarify the counting process.
The word qualify does not appear until section 19 when it mentions the President "elect." This is because we have determined who the President and Vice President elect are. That is the point where qualifications are to be handled. In fact section 19 describes every different situation where someone other than the President elect would assume to act as President and in each case it also declares that that person needs to be "qualified". It is mentioned "nine" times! Now how can one think that any other person or body be responsible for seeing that in these different situations involving the qualification of the President and Vice President elect, or any of the other situation listed, be handled by but Congress?
3 U.S. Code Chapter 1 - PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND VACANCIES
So there is the process listed. Why and when did Congress start stopping at section 15?
The procedure is for the Electors to determine whether or not the candidates are eligible for the office and to vote accordingly. When the Electoral votes are transmitted from the states to Congress, the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives have the opportunity to enter an objection to a vote. The House of Representatives and Senate must vote on each objection and concur in any decision to reject acceptance of that Electoral vote. The subsequent handling of the votes and qualifications are merely administrative tasks with no authority to determine the eligibility that was the responsibility of the Electors to select and the Congress to confirm or deny.
Well, I disagree. The Constitution empowers electors to select our presidents. I believe that they are obligated to vote only for candidates that they find to be eligible to serve. I don't think that they should ignore the provisions regarding eligibility. I believe that voters have the same obligation when they vote for electors.
You are entitled to arrive at your own conclusion, but I would encourage you and everyone else who participates in the process to vote only for people you believe to be eligible to serve. I think that is part of our responsibility. I know that it probably won't ever matter if you personally ignore that responsibility, but I think that if you're going to do a job, you may as well do it correctly. Fortunately, most people try to do the right thing.