BS: What if it is a tie?

Subject: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: GUEST,Larry K
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 04:15 PM

This year there are 538 electoral college votes.    What if it is a tie- 269 electoral votes each?    This is quite possible through a number of combinations.   (also if there is a third candidate and none of the candidates reach 270)

Does anyone know how they pick the winner?   I looked up the answer and it is quite twisted and convoluted.   

I'll give you the answer tomorrow.    You won't believe how rediculous it is.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Amos
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 04:17 PM

A tie is referred to the House of Representatives. I don't know the details.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 04:20 PM

So Bush gets it. It's not the House elected in November that counts for this purpose.

You can easily get strangled with a tie. Figures.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 04:34 PM

Do you think we'll know on Tuesday who's been elected?

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Once Famous
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 04:34 PM

Tie goes to the runner.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 04:46 PM

If it is a tie, I predict that it will be a really tacky one...blue, with red and white stars and stripes.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Peace
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 04:55 PM

If it isn't a tie, who will decide?

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 05:27 PM

Brucie LOL

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Once Famous
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 05:36 PM

the Supreme Court, legally, as before.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 06:20 PM

It goes to the House of Representatives, as has been done in the past. Then you see who has the guts to do what should be done.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: open mike
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 06:24 PM

even if there is a winner by majority of the popular vote,
the favorite of the supreme court gets SELECTED
and the one who was officially ELECTED gets the boot,
and some scam like hanging chads is invented

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 09:18 PM

No, no, no!

The Supremes got involved the last time because there WAS a legal question(s) involved.

IF the vote in the Electoral College is a tie AND there is no legal reason to refer it to the Supremes.

Suppose that each candidate obtains the same number of electoral votes -- and I mean that the Electors in each state meet and cast their votes and the votes are split 50-50.

Well, it goes to the House. But unlike the Jefferson/Burr election of 1800, in which it took 36 votes in the House to elect Jefferson president and Burr VP (although Burr was running for Pres, back then the loser got to be VP), the 12th amendment made some changes.

The 12th changes the Electoral process in a few small, but important ways.

First, instead of voting for two people, Electors vote for a President and a Vice-President. From there, the names are totaled at the state level, in two columns this time (one for the President and one for the Vice President), and sent along to the President of the Senate. Then, in joint session, all votes are opened and counted, again in two columns. The person with the majority of votes for President is then President. If there is no majority, then the top three vote-getters are voted on by the House (with the same restrictions as before). The choice must be made by January 20th (originally March 4th in the 12th Amendment, but altered by the 20th Amendment), or the Vice President becomes the Acting President, until such time as the House can finally agree.

The choice for Vice President moves along similarly, with the majority vote getter becoming VP. If there is no majority, the top two vote-getters are voted on by the Senate. In the case of the Senate, the Senators are not grouped by state, though there must still be a two-thirds quorum to take the vote. Also note that because only the top two vote-getters are placed in the mix, the choice for Vice President should be an easier one. Also note that in the case of a tie, the current Vice President, as President of the Senate, may cast a vote for himself (if the current Vice President is running for re-election).

If the whole thing followed THIS route, it's possible that Kerry could be President and Cheney could be VP. Or Bush could be President and Edwards VP.

Think about either of those two scenarios!

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Nerd
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 09:25 PM

It's possible but very farfetched. The House will of course vote for Bush, and the Senate, if everyone votes on Party Lines, will vote for Cheney. With Zell Miller crossing the lines, it makes it that much less likely that the Democrats could win. Even if the Democrats manages to get a couple of Republicans to vote with them for Edwards, the tie would be broken by Cheney himself. The likelihood of Democrats pulling even that much off is slim, since these votes are not secret and the dissenting Republicans would be open to recriminations from the party.

Basically, if it is a tie, Bush/Cheney will win.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Bobert
Date: 25 Oct 04 - 09:28 PM

Actaully, the Supreme Court should have never inervened in the Bush v Gore case in 2000. They really had no business getting involved since the constitution does provide remdedies involving the House of Representative. Hey, it's up to the states to certify the electors and up to the House to accept them. Nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of the Supreme Court having anything to do with it.

If it is a tie, and I hope it is, then its gonna be time for the memeber of the House to play "Let's Make a Deal"... This might be the bst thing that has happened to the US in the like, ahhh, forever. Yeah, they made a deal in 1876 by trading off the accupation of the South for Hayes becoming president but we now see that wasn't a positive move for either the South or the country.

Yeah, bring on a tie! Make people who are used to not having to compromise find out what it's like. Yeah, bring onthe tie and, fir God's sake, keep the Supreme Court outta it. Another intervention by them this year will reduc e them to nuthin' more than ceerleaders and the country doesn't need that...

Bring it on...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: GUEST,Larry K
Date: 26 Oct 04 - 01:33 PM

Congratulations Repaire.    I think it is rather bizarre that in a tie the House picks the president and the Senate picks the VP.   As said earlier- you could have Bush/Edwards or Kerry/Cheney.   The other bizzare factor is that the house votes for president by number of states while the Senate vote is strict majority.

I told you it was twisted and Bizzarre.   In all probability- the Bush Cheney ticket will win in a tie as the republicans control the house (by number of states) and the Senate.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 04 - 01:45 PM

As Nerd said, a possibility does not a probability make.

I don't believe there will be an elecoral tie. I believe we will know who will be elected by Wednesday, some time, depending on the closeness of the vote. The West Coast time zone is really already in the Kerry column, just as most of the Mountain time zone is already in the Bush column. That means, once we have the results in from the Central time zone, we'll know who the winner is, whether or not the networks declare a winner before the West Coast polls close.

I really don't think it will be as close as the pollsters are saying it is, for one simple reason. They are polling likely voters. Not all likely voters are likely to vote (Democrats mostly, if you believe the pundits), and a lot of unlikely voters who have never been polled but have registered in the past few weeks, might vote.

No one knows how the latter would play out, because while both Dems and Repubs have done a lot of registering, they both are spending a lot of money, time, and effort to suppress voters and voting all around the country.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Oct 04 - 03:23 PM

Oh, I never said that those outcomes were probable. Possible, yes, but not probable.

But I would like very much to see whether or not those elected to Congress would have the guts necessary to vote against their own party -- and I mean either one.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 04 - 03:34 PM

No way. It would be a straight party line vote.

Subject: RE: BS: What if it is a tie?
From: Blowzabella
Date: 26 Oct 04 - 07:02 PM

Oh - sorry - I was rather hoping this was a thread about the Secret Santa and how to express delight if one received a tie...sorry