[EL] An Electoral College Tie?

[Scarberry, Mark]

In such a case, would we really want the national plurality vote winner (perhaps with 40% of the vote) to become President?

Perhaps if no candidate receives a majority of the electoral vote then, instead of the current system or the national popular vote system, there should be a choice of the President either by a joint session of Congress or by vote of the House (with each member having one vote).

Of course that would require a constitutional amendment, but in my view it would also take a constitutional amendment to move to a popular vote system, at least to one that has a blackout period like the proposed NPVIC.

Mark

Mark S. Scarberry
Pepperdine Univ. School of Law
Malibu, CA 90263
(310)506-4667

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Justin Levitt
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 10:23 AM
To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] An Electoral College Tie?

It's not just a tie that could send the election to the House of Representatives ... I believe it's any lack of a majority.  If, for example, the Americans Elect candidate wins enough electoral votes to deprive either the Republican nominee or the Democratic nominee of an Electoral College majority, the House decides the election.

Justin



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Justin Levitt

Associate Professor of Law

Loyola Law School | Los Angeles

919 Albany St.

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213-736-7417

justin.levitt at lls.edu<mailto:justin.levitt at lls.edu>

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On 12/15/2011 9:37 AM, Dan Johnson wrote:
I'd love to see opponents of the National Popular Vote mount a robust defense of the House of Representatives in a one-vote-per-state-delegation selecting the President (the result of a not-implausible tie in electoral votes).

Because, after all, that is what they are defending. A tie will eventually occur. Let us hope that the National Popular Vote compact is established and confirmed by the Supreme Court before that mathematical certainty rears its ugly head.

Dan


On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 11:24 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>> wrote:
"An Electoral College Tie?"<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=26579>
Posted on December 15, 2011 9:18 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=26579> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

National Journal ponders<http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2011/12/an-electoral-college-tie.php>.

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Justin Levitt

Associate Professor of Law

Loyola Law School | Los Angeles

919 Albany St.

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justin.levitt at lls.edu<mailto:justin.levitt at lls.edu>

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