What would happen if there were a 269-269 electoral college tie in the U.S. presidential election?

Polls have been showing for months that the race for the White House will be close, with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump within the margin of error in several key battleground states, and early voting setting records. This situation would occur if Kamala Harris and Donald Trump tied on Tuesday in the number of electoral votes, 269 to 269, complicating the political landscape as neither candidate would obtain the majority necessary to enter the White House.

Several voting scenarios could lead to a 269-269 tie among the 538 members of the Electoral College, which is mathematically possible. One scenario would occur if Kamala Harris won in the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, while Donald Trump won in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and a traditionally progressive district of Nebraska.

If neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump obtains the majority of Electoral College votes necessary to enter the White House, Congress would be responsible for designating the 47th president of the United States, according to the Constitution. In the event of a tie, the newly elected House of Representatives would choose the president, while the Senate would elect the vice president, with each senator allowed to cast one vote.

A tie in the Electoral College can occur if both candidates receive 269 votes each, which has never happened in modern United States history. The last time there was a tie in the number of electoral votes was in the presidential elections of 1800, which pitted Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican Party) against John Adams (Federalist Party). In the 1800 election tie, the two candidates who tied were the Democratic-Republicans Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, who each obtained 73 electoral votes.

The election was thrown into the House of Representatives, which had to decide between the candidates. The House of Representatives had to decide between the candidates in the 1800 election tie, ultimately choosing Thomas Jefferson after 36 rounds of voting. This complex situation led to the adoption in 1804 of the 12th Constitutional Amendment, which completes Article 2 and details the procedure in case of absence of a majority in the Electoral College.

Experts and scholars point to Article II and the 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to outline how a tie would be resolved, detailing the procedure in case of absence of a majority in the Electoral College. The U.S. House of Representatives consists of 435 representatives from the states, with each state delegation casting one vote for President in a contingent election, regardless of the size of the state's delegation. In this voting process, the election is not done by each representative, but by majority delegation in each state: the small Republican state of Idaho has one vote with its two representatives, just as the immense Democratic state of California does, despite its 52 delegates.

The candidate who has the support of a majority of 26 state delegations will win the presidency. The Republicans would then be favored to retain the majority that they currently hold in the House of Representatives. If the elections end with 269 votes in favor and 269 against each candidate, the U.S. Constitution mandates that Congress would be responsible for designating the 47th president of the United States, requiring a majority support of 26 out of 50 state delegations to win.

In this situation, the newly elected House of Representatives would choose the president, while the Senate would choose the vice president, with each senator allowed to cast one vote. This means that even if one party controls the House, the other could control the Senate, potentially leading to a president and vice president from opposing parties.

Historically, the House of Representatives had to decide between the three highest-placed candidates in both the 1800 and 1824 elections. The intricacies of this electoral process underscore the importance of every vote and the potential for complex outcomes in tightly contested races.

Sources: El Economista, RPP Noticias, ABC Color, Infobae, La Repu00fablica, El Nuevo Herald

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq