The election has already been full of spectacular and historically unusual events. Another potential scenario is looming this fall: a “conditional election” of president and vice president, which would occur if no one could secure the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidential election.
It hasn’t happened in modern times, but there are several (if not impossible) ways that the Electoral College map could lead to former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris finishing the race with 269 electoral votes.
Some of those scenarios include a tight race with Republicans winning all of Nebraska’s votes, the state voting for the winner of every congressional district, and Harris winning the Omaha-area 2nd District. (That’s why Republicans short and failed, Nebraska tried to change the rules and make it a winner-takes-all state.) It is less likely that a third-party candidate will win the election and prevent someone else from gaining a majority, or that disbelieving voters will refuse to support the candidate with the same result. result.
If the votes are tied, Congress will appoint the next president.
While the process is hotly contested and historic, Congress has a set process for deciding the president in this scenario, and it will no doubt come after a series of court challenges aimed at challenging the election results in key states.
This is how it will work.
“Each state, regardless of its population, gives one vote for the president in conditional elections.” Congressional Research Service. This means that the members of the House of Representatives from each state will choose from among the three candidates with the most Electoral College voters, and the candidate with the support of the majority of the states will win.
The newly elected Congress, which took office in January, will vote on this scenario. Thus, the results of the Congress elections were looming large.
Republicans control a majority of 26 state delegates, while Democrats control a majority of 22, with two states (Minnesota and North Carolina) tied. Members of Congress were not required to vote for their party’s nominee, but they would certainly face great pressure to do so.
Although Washington has three electoral votes in presidential elections, because it is not a state, it will not have a vote in the House of Representatives in conditional elections.
In conditional elections, the vice president is elected by a full vote of the Senate, with each senator casting his or her vote for one of the two vice presidential candidates with the most electoral votes.