What if Kamala Harris and Donald Trump fail to achieve the necessary majority of adult votes to reach the White House? This hypothesis, which would raise a complex dilemma and exacerbate Americans’ anxiety, is theoretically possible.
In this case, it is up to the Constitution to choose the forty-seventh President of the United States; Specifically, the House of Representatives is also elected by the result of the vote, while the Senate appoints the Vice President.
This rare hypothesis will happen if the two candidates are tied on Tuesday in terms of the number of large voters, i.e. 269 each. There are many voting scenarios that lead to this absolute tie between the candidates in the number of members of the Electoral College, which includes 538 members whose task will be to choose the next president of the country at a later time.
For example, this may happen if Democratic candidate Harris wins in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and Republican Trump wins in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and Nebraska.
The precedent is 1800
There has never been a tie recorded in the modern history of the United States. The last time a tie was recorded in the number of major voters between candidates for the presidential elections dates back to the year 1800, when Thomas Jefferson was a candidate for the Democratic-Republican Party and John Adams for the Federalist Party.
But what is striking is that the tie did not include Adams; Rather, the candidates for the Democratic-Republican Party, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, each received 73 votes. The election was considered invalid, and the House of Representatives decided to elect Jefferson after 36 rounds of voting.
This complex situation prompted the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution in the year 1804, which supplemented Article II, which details the procedures that should be followed in the event that none of the candidates obtains a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
But in practice, how will the vote in the House of Representatives take place on January 6, 2025?
Each state has one vote
The Center for Congressional Research Service reports that “every state, regardless of its population, has the right to vote.” In other words, the election does not take place through one vote for each representative; Rather, by a majority of the votes of each state. The state of Idaho (Republican) has a vote thanks to its two representatives, while the state of California (Democrat), which is very large, has 52 representatives.
Since the country includes 50 states, the new majority required will be 26 votes. Republicans are likely to retain the majority they currently enjoy.
It is expected that such a hypothesis will ignite the already tense country, as millions of citizens are convinced that the elections, which are witnessing intense competition, are already witnessing violations.
