What Happens If There Is A Tie In An Election? It’s a question that sparks curiosity and is crucial for understanding the intricacies of democratic processes. At WHAT.EDU.VN, we provide clear, accessible answers to your pressing questions, ensuring everyone can grasp complex topics like election contingencies. Delve into election tiebreakers, voting system resolutions, and election result disputes with ease.
1. Verifying Presidential Candidate Qualifications
The Office of the Federal Register (OFR), acting for the National Archivist, is responsible for the Electoral College after the general election in November. However, the OFR does not oversee general election matters such as candidate eligibility. Inquiries should be directed to state election officials or Congressional Representatives.
Each state establishes its own standards for election eligibility and ballot inclusion. Contact the chief election official in your state for more information. The Secretary of State is usually in charge of state elections, including the presidential election. Contact information and websites for each state’s Secretary of State and the District of Columbia may be found on the National Secretaries of State website.
2. President-Elect’s Failure to Qualify Before Inauguration
Section 3 of the 20th Amendment stipulates that the Vice President-elect will serve as President if the President-elect is unable to qualify before the inauguration.
Congress established a line of succession in 3 U.S.C. §19 in the unlikely event that both the President-elect and Vice President-elect are unable to qualify by the start of the presidential term.
3. Death or Incapacitation of a Candidate
If a candidate expected to receive electoral votes dies or becomes incapacitated between the general election and the meeting of electors, there is no federally mandated procedure to follow. Individual states, however, may have their own regulations governing how electors must vote during the meeting of electors. When Horace Greeley died between Election Day and the meeting of electors in 1872, the electors slated to vote for Greeley cast ballots for a variety of candidates, including Greeley. Due to a House resolution on the matter, the votes cast for Greeley were not counted. See the complete Electoral College vote counts for President and Vice President in the 1872 election.
If a candidate dies or becomes incapacitated between the electors’ meeting and the counting of electoral votes in Congress, we don’t know what will happen.
The Constitution is silent on whether this candidate meets the criteria of “President elect” or “Vice President elect.” If the candidate with the most electoral votes is deemed “President elect” before the counting of electoral votes in Congress, §3 of the 20th Amendment applies. According to that section, if the President-elect dies or becomes incapacitated, the Vice President-elect will become President.
If a winning Presidential candidate dies or becomes incapacitated between the counting of electoral votes in Congress and the inauguration, the Vice President-elect becomes President, according to §3 of the 20th Amendment.
4. State Certification Submission Delays Due to Recounts
Title 3 of the United States Code establishes the procedures for the Electoral College process, requiring states to issue and send their Certificates of Ascertainment designating their electors at least six calendar days before the electors meet. The 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act, 3 U.S.C. §5, establishes an expedited process for resolving disputes in time to meet this deadline.
5. Discrepancy Between Electoral Vote and National Popular Vote
It is important to remember that the President is not elected by popular vote. The Electoral College vote totals, not the statistical plurality or majority a candidate may have in the national popular vote totals, determine the winner. Electoral votes are distributed based on the popular vote in each state.
Electoral votes are awarded on a winner-take-all basis in 48 of the 50 states (as well as the District of Columbia). All 54 of California’s electoral votes, for example, go to the state election winner, even if the margin of victory is only 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent.
In a multi-candidate race with strong regional appeal, as in 1824, a candidate who receives the most votes nationally may not win the electoral vote. This is less likely in a two-candidate race. However, it occurred in the Hayes/Tilden election of 1876 and the Harrison/Cleveland election of 1888 due to the statistical disparity between vote totals in individual state elections and national vote totals. This occurred in the 2000 presidential election, when George W. Bush received fewer popular votes than Albert Gore Jr. but received a majority of electoral votes, and in the 2016 election, when Donald J. Trump received fewer popular votes than Hillary Clinton but received a majority of electoral votes.
Even though millions more people voted for the Democratic candidate than the Republican candidate in CA, PA, and TX in 2016 (if you add the votes from the three states), the Democratic party only received the electors appointed in CA. Because the Republican candidate won the state popular vote in PA and TX, the Republican party received three more total electors than the Democratic party.
CA – 8,753,788 Democratic votes cast vs 4,483,810 Republican votes cast = 55 Democratic electors
PA – 2,926,441 Democratic votes cast vs 2,970,733 Republican votes cast = 20 Republican electors
TX – 3,877,868 Democratic votes cast vs 4,685,047 Republican votes cast = 38 Republican electors
Total – 15,658,117 Democratic votes cast vs 12,139,590 Republican votes cast for the national popular vote, but 55 Democratic electors vs 58 Republican electors appointed based on each state’s popular vote.
6. State Voting for National Popular Vote Winner Instead of State Winner
The Constitution does not prevent your state from using something other than your state’s popular vote results to appoint electors.
Each state legislature determines how electors are allocated to candidates. As of the last election, the District of Columbia and 48 states had a winner-take-all rule for the Electoral College. In these states, the candidate who received the most popular votes, or a plurality of the popular votes (less than 50 percent but more than any other candidate), received all of the state’s electoral votes. Only Nebraska and Maine did not follow the winner-take-all rule. In those states, there could have been a split of electoral votes among candidates through the state’s system for proportional allocation of votes (and, in fact, Nebraska split in 2008, Maine split in 2016, and both split in 2020).
Any state legislature could pass legislation to change how the Governor (or Mayor of DC) appoints its electors, as long as the legislation is passed before Election Day in the presidential election year. There is no constitutional provision or federal law requiring electors to vote in accordance with the results of the popular vote in their states, so the states may decide to use something other than their state’s popular vote results to direct how their electors vote. A state legislature could therefore require its electors to vote for a candidate who won the national popular vote even if they did not receive a majority of the popular vote in their state.
7. No Presidential Candidate Reaching 270 Electoral Votes
Assuming that all 538 electoral votes are available, if no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the Presidential election leaves the Electoral College process and moves to Congress.
The House of Representatives elects the President from the three (3) Presidential candidates who received the most electoral votes. Each State delegation has one vote, and it is up to the individual States to determine how to vote. (Because the District of Columbia is not a State, it has no State delegation in the House and cannot vote.) A candidate must receive at least 26 votes (a majority of the States) to be elected.
The Senate elects the Vice President from the two (2) Vice Presidential candidates with the most electoral votes. Each Senator casts one vote for Vice President. (Because the District of Columbia is not a State, it has no Senators, it does not participate in the vote.) A candidate must receive at least 51 votes (a majority of Senators) to be elected.
If the House of Representatives fails to elect a President by Inauguration Day, the Vice-President Elect serves as acting President until the deadlock is resolved in the House.
7.1. What If There’s a Tie or Dispute in a State’s Popular Vote?
A tie is statistically improbable, even in smaller states, and would not be known until late November or early December, after a recount and state certification. However, if a state’s popular vote results in a tie, state law in place before the general election determines the tie-breaking procedure (See 3 U.S.C. §5).
In the November 2017 election, one candidate for a Virginia House of Delegates seat led by two (2) votes. Because the results were so close, a recount revealed one (1) miscounted vote. Following the recount, the candidates had the same number of votes. They drew lots for a winner, following state law. The candidates wrote their names on separate sheets of paper and placed them in a bowl. A neutral third party drew a name from the bowl, and that candidate was declared the winner.
A very close finish could also result in a run-off election or legal action to decide the winner. Just like a tie, state law determines how the winner is decided and would be conclusive in determining the selection of electors. The 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act provided for expedited court action if one or more of the candidates disputes the election results so that the electors can be appointed no later than six (6) days before the meeting of the electors.
8. Impact of a Candidate’s Concession Speech
A candidate’s concession speech has no bearing on the Electoral College process. A candidate’s concession speech has no bearing on states’ duties and responsibilities in the Electoral College process.
9. Contesting Electoral Votes During Congressional Count
Under federal law, an objection to a state’s electoral votes may be made to the President of the Senate during Congress’s counting of electoral votes in January. The objection must be made in writing and signed by at least one-fifth of the Senators and one-fifth of the members of the House of Representatives. Only two grounds for objection are acceptable: that the electors of the State were not lawfully certified under a certificate of ascertainment, or that the vote of one or more electors has not been regularly given. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives debate the objection separately. After the debate, both the Senate and the House of Representatives rejoin and both must agree to reject the votes.
Congress broke to consider objections from the 2004 and 2020 Presidential elections under a previous version of the statute (which required only one member of each chamber to sign the objection). Ohio’s 20 Electoral votes were challenged in January 2005. The Senate and House failed to agree to reject the votes after debate. Ohio’s 20 Electoral votes for President Bush and Vice President Cheney were counted. Despite objections to the Electoral votes in numerous States in January 2021, no objection was sustained, and all votes were counted.
10. Voting as a U.S. Military Member Serving Overseas
U.S. citizens who are members of the Uniformed Services and their family members may cast their vote through the Department of Defense Federal Voting Assistance Program.
The U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are among the Uniformed Services.
For more information, visit the Federal Voting Assistance Program website.
10.1. Can Citizens of U.S. Territories Vote for President?
No, the Electoral College process does not allow residents of U.S. Territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands) to vote for President. Unless citizens in U.S. Territories have official residency (domicile) in a U.S. State or the District of Columbia (and vote by absentee ballot or travel to their State to vote), they cannot vote in the presidential election. DC residents have only been able to vote in Presidential elections since 1964, following ratification of the 23rd Amendment.
National political parties may authorize voters in primary elections in U.S. Territories to select delegates to represent the Territory at the political party conventions. However, selecting delegates and voting at a national convention are unrelated to the Electoral College process.
11. Exploring the Electoral College Further
Examine the Federalist Papers for the founders’ perspectives on the Electoral College.
Look through Thomas Jefferson’s writings for his thoughts on the Presidency (particularly, Letter to George Hay, August 17, 1823).
Visit our Election and Voting Resources.
12. Understanding Election Tie Scenarios: FAQs
To further clarify the nuances of election ties and related procedures, here’s a series of frequently asked questions:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What happens if a presidential election results in a tie in the Electoral College? | If no candidate secures a majority (270) of electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects the President from the top three candidates. Each state delegation gets one vote, and a majority of states (26) is required for election. |
| How are state-level election ties resolved? | State laws dictate tie-breaking procedures, which may include recounts, run-off elections, legal challenges, or even random methods like drawing lots. |
| Can a candidate demand a recount in the event of a close election? | Yes, candidates can typically request a recount if the election results are close, as defined by state law. Recount procedures vary by state but aim to ensure accuracy. |
| What role do courts play in resolving election disputes? | Courts may intervene in election disputes, especially when legal challenges are filed regarding vote counts, eligibility, or election procedures. The 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act expedites court action in such cases. |
| How does the Electoral College work in states with a history of close elections? | Most states use a winner-take-all system, awarding all electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in that state. This system can magnify the impact of close elections, as seen in the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections. |
| What measures are in place to prevent and address voter fraud? | Various measures, including voter registration verification, ID requirements, and post-election audits, are used to prevent and address voter fraud. Allegations of fraud are typically investigated by election officials and law enforcement. |
| If a candidate concedes an election, can the results still be contested? | A candidate’s concession speech has no legal bearing on the official election results or the process. The results can still be contested through legal channels if there are valid grounds for doing so. |
| How do third-party or independent candidates affect the possibility of election ties? | Third-party or independent candidates can increase the likelihood of close elections and potential ties by drawing votes away from the major party candidates, especially in states with a significant number of undecided voters. |
| What are the implications of a divided government (different parties controlling the House, Senate, and Presidency) in the event of a contested election? | A divided government can complicate the resolution of contested elections, as different parties may have conflicting interests and priorities. This can lead to political gridlock and prolonged uncertainty. |
| How does the media influence public perception of election results and potential ties? | The media plays a significant role in shaping public perception of election results and potential ties through their coverage, analysis, and commentary. Media outlets can influence public opinion and potentially exacerbate political tensions during contested elections. |
13. Key Reference Sources
- Congressional Quarterly Press, “Presidential Elections, 1789-2008,” Congressional Quarterly Press (2010)
- J. Clark Archer, Stephen J. Lavin, Kenneth C. Martis, and Fred M. Shelley, “Historical Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1788-2004,” Congressional Quarterly Press (2006)
- Walter Berns (ed.), “After the People Vote: Steps in Choosing the President,” American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (1983)
- Michael J. Glennon, “When No Majority Rules: The Electoral College and Presidential Succession,” Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1992
- Pierce and Longley, “The People’s President” (1981)
- William Peters, “A More Perfect Union” (1937)
- Max Ferrand, “The Framing of the Constitution” (1913, reprinted 1987)
Understanding the complexities of elections, especially the scenarios involving ties and disputes, is essential for informed participation in democracy. At WHAT.EDU.VN, we strive to provide clear, reliable information to empower you with the knowledge you need.
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