In this situation, an emergency Republican convention would be held where members from each state or territory vote on the new nominee - casting the same number of votes as they are entitled to at an ordinary convention.

In addition to the new nominee, explained Mr Piles, “the parties would now have to replace the name of their dead candidate on each state’s ballot with that of the new candidate.

As Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, wrote on that outcome, “what’s most likely [is] that the election would take place on time with the deceased or incapacitated candidate’s name on the ballot,”

“Then there would be a question if [state] legislatures would allow presidential electors of each state to vote for someone other than the deceased candidate,” explained Mr Hasen.

Typically, the Electoral College system would see each state count its popular votes according to state laws, and then designate its presidential electors.

In most states, the candidate with the most votes will receive all of the state’s electors, who pledge to vote for the winner when they meet in December to cast their votes in the Electoral College.

That, argued Mr Piles to the Washington Post, rested on whether the Supreme Court decided “whether it is constitutional for states to ‘bind’ their electors to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in that state” in the event that the candidate has withdrawn - or died.