Free Republic

I have not mentioned Contingent Elections, since most scenarios I can think of entail one candidate or the other reaching 270 EVs; and/or since if any state’s EVs are not submitted by the December 14th deadline, such EVs would most likely be removed from the numerator and denominator of the Electoral College equation. As a result, a candidate would need to obtain a simple majority of all remaining EVs to win.

"It will be the thing, I believe, that will formally elect Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States," said Steve Bannon Though chances are slim and the final electoral count is still pending, a little-known provision of the U.S. Constitution provides an opening for President Trump to possibly salvage victory through what's known as a "contingent election." Under the 12th Amendment, in a contingent election one person does not win a majority of Electoral College votes, and the election is thrown to the U.S. House of Representatives. There, each state's delegation has one vote, and a...

I would like to conclude my week of blogging with a call to action. If no candidate wins a majority in the electoral college, the House of Representatives will choose our next president in a “contingent election,” from among the top three candidates. This is a much less remote possibility than usual this year. As I explained on Monday, there is no way to replace a candidate who dies in a contingent election. This would disenfranchise an entire side of the election, so it provides an unfortunately heightened incentive for assassins. We don’t award assassins this prize at any other...