What happens if there is a tie in a national election?

In the event of a tie in a national election, the United States Constitution states that the House of Representatives will choose a President from the top three electoral vote-getters. The House of Representatives must choose a President from among the top three electoral vote-getters with one vote per state. For example, if Minnesota is one of the states involved in the tie they get one vote in the House of Representatives for the President. The state’s representatives in the House will vote for the candidate their state wants to support. The candidate who receives the most votes in the House of Representatives will be the President of the United States. Although this process is set up in the Constitution, it rarely happens in a national election. The last time a presidential election was decided in the House of Representatives was in 1824. There have been several close elections in American history where the nation almost went to the House, but each time the electoral vote was broken by one state in the end. To avoid this rare occurrence, Minnesota and other states have made changes to their election laws, such as ranked-choice voting, which allow voters to select more than one candidate. This system has the potential to eliminate ties or close margins of victory in presidential elections. If a voter’s first-choice candidate does not receive the majority of the vote, their second-choice candidate can potentially take the victory. Minnesota is currently leading the way with this voting system, but other states have begun to consider it as well.

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What happens if there is a tie in a national election?

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