WASHINGTON -- If Texan George W. Bush chooses Richard Cheney as his running mate, Cheney runs the risk of losing the votes of the 32 Texans in the Electoral College.

ON THE NET ELECTORAL COLLEGE www.nara.gov/fedreg/elctcoll/ index.htmltop

The 12th Amendment says that when members of the Electoral College vote for a president and vice president, one of the candidates "shall not be an inhabitant" of the same state as the electors. Assuming Bush won in Texas, the Texas electors could vote for him for president, but not for another Texan for vice president.

The "inhabitant" question stands a chance -- tiny though it is -- of causing a headache for Cheney. Until last week, Cheney was a resident of Texas, like Bush. Last Friday, he registered to vote in Wyoming.

Born in Nebraska, the 59-year-old Cheney grew up in Casper, Wyo., and represented Wyoming in Congress for 12 years. He has a home in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and spends considerable time there, said Wyoming Secretary of State Joe Meyer.

But Cheney is now chief executive officer of Dallas-based Halliburton Co., a Texas oil-services giant. On property listings -- including one in Wyoming -- he gives a Dallas address. Cheney also owns property near Washington in Virginia.

If Cheney can't establish that he's not a Texan, the 32 electors from that state would have to choose between Bush and Cheney. They couldn't vote for both.

Since Texas has the third most electoral votes -- behind California with 54 and New York with 33 -- a razor-thin victory for Bush could leave Cheney out in the cold.

If the Texas electors can't vote for Cheney, they could simply abstain from voting for vice president. But without the required 270 electoral votes out of 538 total, Cheney couldn't take office.

In that case, the Senate would decide the matter, constitutional scholars say. With the Senate in Republican hands, it's likely Cheney would get the job anyway.

Robert Drinan, a former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts who now teaches law at Georgetown University, said he didn't foresee a problem. But, he said, opponents of Cheney could raise questions about where he has paid taxes, where he owns property and other details.

"That might be significant," he said.

Paul Rothstein, another Georgetown law professor, said the law is liberal about residency, letting state-switchers claim a state as their home even if they don't intend to live there for years.

"The law gives a lot of weight to intention," he said, adding that Cheney has a good claim for making Wyoming his "domicile."

Ron Faucheux, editor and publisher of Campaigns & Elections magazine, said, "If I were Cheney, I would completely move out of Texas and completely move to Wyoming, so there was no question about it."

The 12th Amendment -- added to the Constitution in 1804 -- arose when large states such as Virginia could easily dominate the nation's political discourse.

"It stems from a time when there was a lot of jealousy among states, when each state was more like a separate nation than they are today," Rothstein said.

Some legal experts say the separate state question has become irrelevant. But Donald Ritchie, the Senate Historical office's associate historian, said it remains important.

"The sense of a national ticket is that it's supposed to be balanced, both geographically and ideologically," he said.

Elected officials who jump from state to state are nothing new, he said, citing the case of James Shields.

The Democrat who was a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln enjoyed a 30-year career that included stints representing Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri in the House of Representatives -- as well as a turn as governor of Oregon, Ritchie said.