posted on November 8, 2000 06:22:02 AM new
I don't think that at this point the numbers can come out this way, but does anybody know what would happen if each presidential candidate got an equaly # of electoral votes? My understanding is that the VP breaks the tie. With the VP a candidate for the office, would he actually be the one to do this?
I'm also embarrassed to say that although I know you need 270 electoral votes to get the seat, I have no idea exactly how many electors there are in total. Surely somebody knows this as well?
posted on November 8, 2000 06:26:40 AM new
If these is a tie in the electorial college, then the house of representatives chooses. That would be the newly elected house. the VP only can vote if there is a tie in the senete not the house.
Humanity I love; it's people I can't stand
posted on November 8, 2000 06:39:57 AM new
There is an odd number of electoral votes, 531 to be exact. Therefore, it would be difficult for there to be a tie. It would be possible if a third party candidate got some of the electorla votes though.
posted on November 8, 2000 06:44:50 AM new
There are 538 total votes.
"The Constitution of the United States mandates the procedure by which Americans select their President. The President and Vice-President are elected by an "Electoral College", rather than by direct popular vote. Each state is allocated "electoral votes" equal to the total number of Senators and Representatives allocated to that state. The District of Columbia is also allocated 3 electoral votes. On election day, voters are actually voting for Electoral College members who promise to vote for the candidates of their respective political parties. In all but two states the party with the greatest number of votes receives all the electoral votes for that state, even if no candidate gets a majority. Nebraska and Maine allow their electoral votes to be split amoung candidates, but this has not actually happened in modern times (The new version of the program will reflect this). In order to win, a "ticket" (A party's Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates) must receive 270 votes, one more than half of the total of 538 electoral votes. If no ticket has 270 votes, then the House of Representatives decides the election." quoted from http://www1.jump.net/~jnhtx/ec/ec.html
