There is some speculation about what would happen if there is a tie in the Electoral College vote, and there could be one long-shot outcome: President Nancy Pelosi.
Although unlikely, a potential tie is not entirely impossible and does have historical precedent, reports Fox News, as the Electoral College has an even number of votes, 538, distributed between the states and Washington, D.C.
To win the White House, President Donald Trump or Democrat nominee Joe Biden must take a majority of the electoral votes, with 270 being the minimum to win. But if each candidate gets 269 of the votes, it will be up to the House of Representatives to break the tie.
However, each state, not each representative will get one vote, based on the state’s party majority. For example, Florida has 13 Democrat representatives and 14 Republicans, so that state’s vote would go to Trump.
Meanwhile, the vice president is picked by the Senate if there is a tie, meaning the country could eventually have a president of one party and a vice-president of another.
If the House can’t decide on a president and the Senate has picked a vice-president, then that vice president would be acting president until the matter is resolved.
That’s where Pelosi comes in. If the House and Senate can’t pick anyone, then the House Speaker becomes president until both chambers of Congress make their choice.
An Electoral College tie, let alone Pelosi becoming the acting president, is considered highly unlikely, but a tie did happen in 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, when each got 73 electoral votes. That tie led, in part, to the creation of the 12th Amendment in 1803, which provides the procedure to elect a president and vice president.
via newsmax