By The Opinion
22 Oct 2024, 11:35 PM EDT
In the United States, the president and vice president are elected through the Electoral College, rather than through the national popular vote.
To win, a party’s candidacy must win the most votes in enough states to achieve an absolute majority of electoral votes: at least 270 votes out of a total of 538.
It is highly unlikely, but theoretically possible, that The presidential election ends with a 269-269 tie in the Electoral College.
That would mean that neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trumpwho are in a very close electoral race, will get enough electoral votes to become president.
Regardless of how it happens, if no challenger achieves a majority, The Constitution requires that Congress carry out the selection of national executives through a “contingent election.”
That is, if this year’s election ended with 269 votes in favor and 269 against each candidate, experts and academics cite Article II of the Constitution, as well as the 12th Amendment, to explain how this would work and what would happen in Congress to elect the president and vice president.
How to make a contingent election
In this scenario, theThe United States House of Representatives would elect the presidentalthough not based on the vote of the entire chamber but on the preferences of each state (meaning that a candidate needs the majority support of 26 state delegations out of 50 to win), and the 100-seat United States Senate would elect the vice president based on the vote of individual senators, with 51 votes needed to win.
In this scenario, the United States House of Representatives would elect the presidentalthough not based on the vote of the entire chamber, but on the preferences of each state (meaning that a candidate needs the majority support of 26 state delegations out of 50 to win)
A similar process would take place in the U.S. Senate to decide who would become vice president. In that case, however, each senator gets one vote, rather than one vote per state as in the House. The candidate who obtains 51 votes becomes vice president.
And since these are separate votes, it is possible that the president and vice president end up being from different political parties.
If the House cannot get 26 votes for a presidential candidate the first time, it would have to continue voting until this happens.
And if no candidate reaches 26 votes by inauguration day, The person chosen as vice president by the Senate will be interim president while the House continues voting until it elects the president because the tie is broken.
It’s highly unlikely, but not impossible, that we’ll find ourselves in a situation where Congress has to decide who will be the next president and vice president, but it’s worth knowing what the process would look like if that were to happen.
With information from ABC News and NPR
Keep reading:
– How the president of the United States is elected and why the one who obtains the majority does not always win
– Georgia judge rules that officials cannot refuse to certify elections
– Tim Walz suggests disappearing the Electoral College