A Short Civics Primer

 

Here are a few things I looked up after wondering – over kool-aids on the porch – about an electoral tie this year.

 

1.      The Electoral College has 538 votes which allows for a tie at 269-269.

 

a.      Each state gets one vote per US house district and one vote for each Senator – that’s an unchanging 535 votes each and every year plus 3 more votes for the District of Columbia.

 

[I hate the fact that DC exists as a political entity – all citizens should live in one of the surrounding states.  But the fact that DC has as many electoral votes as some states and almost as many as many others is far worse.]

 

2.      In the event of a tie, the US House of Representatives selects the new President [12th Amendment].  [It happened twice, 1801 and 1825.]

 

a.      The new House does the voting but not until January 1^st.

 

b.      While the House has 435 members, they only get 50 votes – one for each state.  The first candidate to win the votes of any 26 states is the new president.  [DC gets no vote here.]

 

c.       Each state’s “delegation” of House members decides among themselves how their state’s vote will be cast.  [And they can choose from any of the top three electoral vote getters.  In theory, some total outlier could win.]

 

3.      The Vice President is elected by the Senate.  [It happened once in 1837.]

 

a.      The new Senate does the voting but not until January 1^st.

 

b.      Each Senator gets one vote.  The first candidate to win 51 votes is the new vice president.  

 

c.       So, legislative voting could result in the President and vice president coming from different Parties. 

 

d.      Further, 12^th Amendment language precludes the sitting Vice President from breaking any tie which might occur BUT this is disputed by some legal scholars – think of the possible mess here.

 

4.      Deadlocked chambers – add this to the possible Constitutional dispute mentioned above.

 

a.      The House of Representatives must choose a President-elect in time for the inauguration (noon on January 20).

 

b.      If the House fails, the Twentieth Amendment specifies that the Vice President-elect becomes Acting President until the House should select a President. 

 

c.       If the winner of the vice presidential election is also not known by then, then under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the sitting Speaker of the House would become Acting President until either the House should select a President or the Senate should select a Vice President.  None of these situations has ever occurred.

 

One last thought about all this and our current divisive political representatives.  Remember the walkouts of Democrats from the Texas and Wisconsin state legislative sessions?  Well, the Twelfth Amendment requires two thirds of the states to be present in the US House for Presidential voting and two thirds of US Senators to be present for vice presidential voting.  Imagine the utter mess these jerks could make.

 

And finally, as I read it, if the both Houses of Congress were to remain deadlocked until March 4^th, then the “sitting vice president” would become acting President until they acted.  Joe Biden would become President.  Just think of the mess the obstructionists could create.