What Happens If the Electoral College Ties?

A plain-English guide to the Twelfth Amendment, contingent elections, and what happens when no presidential candidate wins an electoral majority.

By Timothy Burton Anderson | Attorney and Political Thriller Author

It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. There are 538 to go around, which means a perfect split, 269 to 269, is possible. It has nearly happened more than once. If it ever does, the decision leaves the Electoral College process and moves to Congress, under rules established by the Twelfth Amendment.

The last presidential contingent election followed the election of 1824, with the House making its choice in 1825. More than two centuries later, those rules still govern what happens when the Electoral College fails to produce a majority.

Here is how the process works—and why an electoral deadlock could become one of the most consequential events in American politics.

The Short Answer: What Happens If No Candidate Gets 270 Electoral Votes?

If no presidential candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, the Twelfth Amendment requires the House of Representatives to choose the president.

At the same time, if no vice-presidential candidate receives an electoral majority, the Senate chooses the vice president.

This procedure is known as a contingent election.

The Constitution does not order another nationwide popular election, and the presidency does not automatically go to the candidate who received the most popular votes.

Instead, the decision moves to the newly elected Congress.

The House votes by state delegations, with each state receiving one vote. The Senate votes separately, with each senator casting one vote for vice president.

These unusual rules mean that the outcome can depend on the political composition of Congress rather than simply on the nationwide vote totals.

How Does the House of Representatives Choose the President?

When no presidential candidate receives an electoral majority, the House chooses the president from the three candidates who received the highest numbers of electoral votes.

But the House does not use its normal voting procedure.

In ordinary legislative business, each representative casts a separate vote. In a contingent presidential election, the representatives from each state vote as a delegation, and the state casts one vote.

California receives one state vote. Wyoming also receives one state vote.

The District of Columbia, although it has three electoral votes in the presidential election, does not receive a vote in this House procedure because it is not a state.

To win, a candidate needs the votes of a majority of all 50 states: 26 state delegations.

If a state’s representatives are divided, its internal voting procedure can become important. A delegation that cannot reach a decision may be unable to deliver its state vote for a particular candidate.

The Twelfth Amendment also imposes a quorum requirement: members representing at least two-thirds of the states must be present.

Which House of Representatives Votes?

The newly elected House makes the selection, not the outgoing House from before the election.

Congressional terms begin on January 3, while the presidential term begins on January 20.

That timing can matter. A closely divided national election might produce a new House with a different political balance from the one that existed before Election Day.

In a contingent election, a relatively small change in the composition of state delegations could affect the presidential outcome.

How Does the Senate Choose the Vice President?

The Senate has a separate responsibility if no vice-presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes.

Under the Twelfth Amendment, it chooses from the two candidates who received the highest numbers of electoral votes for vice president.

Unlike the House, senators vote individually.

Each senator casts one vote, and a majority of the whole Senate is required. With all 100 Senate seats filled, that means at least 51 votes.

The Twelfth Amendment also requires a quorum of two-thirds of the whole Senate.

This creates an unusual constitutional possibility: the House could select a president from one party while the Senate selects a vice president from another.

The president and vice president are usually elected together. A contingent election can separate those decisions.

Has an Electoral College Deadlock Happened Before?

The Constitution’s fallback procedures are not merely theoretical.

American history includes several elections that required Congress to resolve a presidential or vice-presidential contest.

The Election of 1800: Jefferson and Burr

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes.

At the time, electors did not cast separate ballots for president and vice president under the system now established by the Twelfth Amendment.

The dispute went to the House of Representatives, which ultimately selected Jefferson after 36 ballots.

The crisis exposed a serious weakness in the original electoral procedure and helped lead to ratification of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804.

That amendment required separate electoral ballots for president and vice president.

The Election of 1824: John Quincy Adams

In the election of 1824, four major presidential candidates divided the electoral vote.

Andrew Jackson received the most electoral votes, but he did not secure an outright majority.

Under the Twelfth Amendment, the presidential election went to the House of Representatives.

In February 1825, the House chose John Quincy Adams.

This remains the only presidential contingent election conducted under the Twelfth Amendment.

It demonstrates that receiving the largest number of electoral votes does not necessarily guarantee the presidency when no candidate wins a majority.

The Election of 1836: The Vice Presidency

The presidential contest of 1836 produced a different kind of contingency.

Martin Van Buren won the presidency, but his running mate, Richard Mentor Johnson, failed to receive the required electoral majority for vice president.

The Senate therefore selected Johnson as vice president in 1837.

That election illustrates why the constitutional procedures for president and vice president must be considered separately.

How Could a 269–269 Electoral College Tie Happen?

The Electoral College currently contains 538 electoral votes.

A majority requires 270.

If two presidential candidates each receive exactly 269 electoral votes, neither has the majority required to win.

Such a result depends on the electoral-vote distribution among the states and the District of Columbia.

It is possible under the current allocation, although the likelihood of any specific electoral map depends on the states’ election results.

Maine and Nebraska Can Split Electoral Votes

Most states award all their electoral votes to the statewide winner.

Maine and Nebraska use a different system in which electoral votes can be split based on congressional district results.

That makes individual district outcomes potentially important in a close presidential contest.

In an election where one or two electoral votes determine whether a candidate reaches 270, those districts could play a decisive role.

Faithless Electors

A faithless elector is an elector who does not vote as expected under the state’s electoral selection process.

State laws can bind electors to a candidate, and the Supreme Court has upheld states’ authority to enforce certain elector pledges.

Nevertheless, the possibility of a vote being cast differently from expectations is another reason analysts study how the Electoral College might produce a result without a majority.

More Than Two Candidates

A 269–269 tie is not the only scenario that could lead to a contingent election.

If a third-party or independent candidate wins enough electoral votes to prevent every presidential candidate from receiving a majority, the election could also move to the House.

The essential trigger is not a numerical tie. It is the absence of an electoral majority.

What If a State’s Presidential Election Is Contested?

A close presidential election can produce recounts, lawsuits and disputes about which candidate won a state.

Those controversies do not automatically produce a contingent election.

State election laws establish processes for tabulating results, conducting recounts, resolving disputes and certifying the appointment of presidential electors.

The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 clarified important parts of the federal electoral-count process.

What Did the Electoral Count Reform Act Change?

The 2022 legislation revised procedures that had previously been governed in significant part by the Electoral Count Act of 1887.

Among its major changes, the law:

• Clarified that the vice president’s role when presiding over the electoral count is ministerial rather than an independent power to decide the outcome.

• Raised the congressional threshold for objecting to electoral votes.

• Restricted the grounds on which objections may be made.

• Strengthened procedures concerning state certification and expedited judicial review.

• Established clearer rules to help Congress identify the lawful electoral certificates.

Under the revised objection procedure, a written objection generally requires support from at least one-fifth of the duly chosen and sworn members of each chamber.

The legislation was designed to reduce uncertainty and make it more difficult for political disagreements alone to disrupt the counting of valid electoral votes.

What Happens After State Certification?

The appointed presidential electors meet in December to cast their votes.

Congress then meets in joint session in January to count those votes.

The vice president presides in a ministerial capacity.

If the final count establishes that one candidate has received the required majority, that candidate wins.

If no candidate has a majority, the contingent-election provisions of the Constitution govern the next stage.

A close state result, a legal challenge and a 269–269 electoral tie are therefore related possibilities, but they are not the same legal event.

What Doesn’t the Constitution Resolve Easily?

The Constitution provides a procedure for choosing a president when the Electoral College fails to produce a majority.

It does not guarantee that the political process will be simple.

A divided House could struggle to agree on a candidate. State delegations could be internally divided. The Senate might select a vice president while the House remained deadlocked.

Legal deadlines, congressional organization and questions of succession could become urgent.

What If the House Cannot Choose a President by January 20?

The Twentieth Amendment addresses the situation in which a president has not been chosen by the time the new presidential term must begin.

If a vice president has been duly elected and qualified, that person may serve as acting president until a president qualifies.

If neither a president nor a vice president has qualified, federal succession law and constitutional rules become relevant.

The country would not simply extend the outgoing president’s term indefinitely because the election remained unresolved.

Why Are These Possibilities Important?

A presidential election involves much more than counting votes on election night.

It also depends on institutions accepting lawful outcomes, officials carrying out their assigned duties and political leaders respecting the constitutional process.

The fallback procedure was designed to resolve an electoral failure, but it can require intense negotiation among state delegations and members of Congress.

That combination of precise legal rules and uncertain human decisions is what makes an Electoral College deadlock such a compelling subject for political fiction.