Editing Acting governor (section)

==Examples of acting governors==
===Alabama===
[[George C. Wallace]] was shot in an assassination attempt in May 1972. With him out of state recovering for more than 120 days, Lt. Governor [[Jere Beasley]] acted as governor from June 5 to July 7, 1972, at which time Governor Wallace returned to the state and returned to office.

===Massachusetts===
In [[Massachusetts]], in the event of a vacancy in the governor's office, the lieutenant governor assumes the ''duties'' of the office, but ''not the office'' for the remainder of the term, thus becoming acting governor while retaining the lieutenant governor's office. In 1997, when [[William Weld]] resigned to pursue the ambassadorship to Mexico, [[Paul Cellucci]] took over as acting governor until after his 1998 election as governor, when he assumed office in January 1999. In 2001, when Cellucci resigned to become [[United States Ambassador to Canada]], [[Jane Swift]] became the acting governor until January 2003, when Cellucci's term ended with the inauguration of [[Mitt Romney]].

===New Jersey===
In [[New Jersey]], a state which has a lieutenant governor, in the event of a vacancy in the office of governor, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. In case of the inability of the current governor to fulfill the gubernatorial duties through injury, the lieutenant governor serves as the acting governor. The acting governor performs powers and duties until the governor recovers from the injuries. If the governor's death or resignation occurs less than 16 months before end of the term, the new governor serves until the end of the term, otherwise a special election (in which the new governor may participate) is held.

Prior to the establishment of the modern office of lieutenant governor following a constitutional referendum in 2005 that took effect in 2009, a vacancy in the office of governor would lead to the president of the state Senate to become acting governor while still retaining the title of senate president. Following the resignation of [[Christine Todd Whitman]] in 2001 to become EPA Administrator, [[Donald DiFrancesco]] assumed the acting governor's post, serving until January 2002. Following DiFrancesco's departure from the senate, [[John O. Bennett]] and [[Richard J. Codey]] each served as acting governor as well. As control of the New Jersey Senate was evenly split, resulting in two Senate co-presidents, Codey and Bennett each held the office of acting governor for three days in January 2002, until [[Jim McGreevey]] began his term as governor. Codey again served as acting governor following McGreevey's own resignation, serving from November 2004 until January 2006, when [[Jon Corzine]] took office as governor. These unusual events were a major factor in voters' decision to amend the state constitution to create the office of lieutenant governor in the 2005 referendum, effective with the 2009 election. Before the amendment could take effect, state transportation commissioner [[Kris Kolluri]] served as acting governor the day of December 28, 2006. As Governor Corzine, the senate president, assembly speaker, and attorney general were all out of state, Kolluri became acting governor.<ref>[http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=local&id=4887263 "N.J. Gets New Governor... For a Day"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312094339/http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=local&id=4887263 |date=2007-03-12 }}, [[WPVI-TV]], December 28, 2006. Accessed June 25, 2007. "Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri will take over the post because Governor Corzine will be out of town. So will the Senate president, Assembly speaker and attorney general, all of whom are ahead of Kolluri in the line of succession."</ref>

===West Virginia===
In [[West Virginia]], if the governorship becomes vacant, the [[West Virginia Senate#Senate President|Senate president]] acts as governor. If more than one year remains in the governor's term at the time of vacancy, a special election is held; otherwise, the Senate president serves the remainder of the term.<ref>WV Constitution article VII, § 16.</ref> A bill passed in 2000 grants the Senate president the honorary title of lieutenant governor,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Text_HTML/2000_SESSIONS/RS/Bills/hb4781%20enr.htm | title=H.B. 4781 (Enrolled March 11, 2009) | publisher=West Virginia Legislature, 2000 Sessions | access-date=August 16, 2009}}</ref> but this title is rarely used in practice and the terms of the Senate president do not correspond with governorships. Then-Senate president [[Earl Ray Tomblin]] is the first person under the current state constitution to act as governor following the November 15, 2010 resignation of [[Joe Manchin]] following his election to the [[United States Senate]] seat vacated by the death of [[Robert Byrd]]. As there was more than one year remaining on Manchin's term as governor, a [[West Virginia gubernatorial special election, 2011|special election]] was held, which Tomblin won. He became governor on November 13, 2011 to complete the term.