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What happens if there is a tie in the US elections? Everything you need to know

Umito November 6, 2024

There were many demands on both sides, and wars of words in the months leading up to American election week.

Both Kamala Harris And Donald Trump fought hard to persuade the electorate to vote for them as leader of the country, but what happens in the event of a tie?

Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump could each obtain 269 electoral votes, resulting in a tie scenario, with both candidates unable to obtain the majority of electoral votes required to become president.

But how likely is that to happen and what happens if it ends in a tie? Here’s what you need to know.

The United States has a winner-takes-all electoral system.

Known as the Electoral Collegethe election consists of 538 votes, distributed among the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. A tie between two could occur.

What happens if there is a tie in the US elections?

A constitutional amendment more than two centuries old determines who wins in the event of a tie.

This is the The 12th Amendment of the United States who states that, in such bizarre cases, the Chamber of Deputies would be forced to choose the president by ballot among the voters’ first three choices. Votes are taken by each state, with each state having one vote and a majority is required.

This means that small states will have as much say in choosing a new president as large ones.

It’s called a “contingent election,” in which the House of Representatives is tasked with choosing the U.S. president for the first time in two centuries, requiring a majority of 26 states to elect the new leader.

With the race being as close as rumored, this could cause even more drama, with new Congress members must choose between supporting their party and the person who received the most votes in their state, as state delegations are not required to honor the winner of their state’s vote.

Deadlock has occurred twice in U.S. history, in 1800 and 1824. By 1800, the problem was so bad that it forced them to change the election law for the future.

At the time, no one was running for vice president – previously, the candidate with the most votes became president and the runner-up became vice president and voters each got two votes.

The electoral votes were counted and Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, who were from the same Democratic-Republican party, tied for the most votes.

In this situation, Congress also couldn’t decide who it wanted to win, and it took 36 votes for Mr. Jefferson to finally become president.

Congress then introduced the 12th Amendment to prevent this from happening again.

But there was another tie in 1825, and this time four candidates split the votes. Andrew Jackson received by far the largest number of votes, but fell short of the majority he needed to be elected president.

His rival, John Quincy Adams, was later controversially elected as the next president, despite receiving fewer public votes.

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What happens if there is a tie in the US elections? Everything you need to know

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What happens if there is a tie in the US elections? Everything you need to know

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