So what exactly will happen if either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump is unable to win the Electoral College majority needed to win the US election?
Although highly unlikely, such an outcome is still possible, with Americans suffering ahead of the November 5 election and already sitting on the edge of their seats.
Under the American system, it is not the national popular vote that decides who becomes president, but rather the 538-member “Electoral College”, with each state receiving “electors” equal to their representation in Congress.
Every state except Nebraska and Maine awards all of its electors to who comes first in the statewide popular vote.
If both Harris and Trump fail to reach the majority threshold of 270 voters, the US Constitution says Congress will play the deciding role.
Specifically, the newly elected House of Representatives will select the President in January, while the Senate will nominate the next Vice President.
Several possible scenarios could produce a 269–269 Electoral College split.
An example would be if Democrat Harris prevails in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, while the Republican former president carries a single left-leaning district in Nebraska in addition to Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina.
– 200 years –
A tie would require a so-called snap election in Congress – something that has never happened in modern American history.
The last time a tie forced Congress to choose a president was in the election of 1800, pitting Thomas Jefferson against incumbent President John Adams.
In the bitterly divided House, lawmakers struggled to reach agreement and ultimately elected Jefferson on their 36th ballot.
The painful confusion led to the adoption of the 12th Amendment to the US Constitution four years later, to somewhat clarify election procedures.
This time, if such a House vote is necessary, it will take place on January 6, 2025.
How will that vote proceed?
– One state, one vote –
According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), “Each state, regardless of population, casts one vote for President in the contingent election.”
In other words, Republican-leaning Wyoming, with a city-sized population of 500,000, would have the same impact as Democratic California, where 39 million people live.
Although the US capital, Washington, has three Electoral College votes, it will not get a vote in a contingent election because it is not a state.
The CRS report said states with two or more representatives would need to hold internal voting to determine which candidate to support.
A candidate needs to win a majority or 26 votes in 50 states. For now, this is likely to give the Republicans an edge.
Specific rules governing the process would likely have to be adopted by the House, potentially leading to intense disagreements and a prolonged period of constitutional crisis.
It is not hard to imagine how much such a procedure, at the end of an extremely close campaign, would do to the already badly frayed nerves of the American electorate, many of whom are convinced that the vote was rife with irregularities.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
