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which means that at some point in The West Wing Universe, Congress ratified a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT that would change when elections happened while also not having a reason to do so SO MONUMENTAL that it would radically alter the trajectory of the nation

I believe the fan explanation for it is that Nixon resigned in between Agnew's resignation and Ford's appointment in the timeline, and they changed the law to do a special presidential election in 1974 (which does fit with which presidents get cited), then just kept the 4-year cycle

(Though one would think this would've been mentioned during the multi-episode "25th Amendment with a VP vacancy" storyline)

There was no constitutional amendment - elections have been held regularly every four years since the constitutional convention in 1789, following ratification in 1790 and Washington’s unanimous selection in 1791 No I am not going to tell you how the rest of American history worked

I'm so emotionally invested in this that I am having to use all my willpower to not harangue Do for your phone number so i can call and INSIST you expand further on this poitn