{"id":351468,"date":"2020-03-17T09:36:44","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T14:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/voting\/how-u-s-elections-work\/what-is-the-contingent-election-and-voting-process.html"},"modified":"2020-11-03T09:05:43","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T14:05:43","slug":"what-is-the-contingent-election-and-voting-process","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/voting\/how-u-s-elections-work\/what-is-the-contingent-election-and-voting-process.html","title":{"rendered":"What Is the Contingent Election and Voting Process?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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What Is the Contingent Election and Voting Process?<\/h1>\n
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Created by FindLaw’s team<\/a> of legal writers and editors<\/i><\/p>\n\n | Last reviewed\n

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In 1800 and 1824, the President of the United States was elected not by a majority of the American voters, or by the Electoral College, but by the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1836, the Vice President was elected by the U.S. Senate. <\/p>\n

What happens when there is an electoral college tie?<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n

What Is a Contingent Election, and What Is the Voting Process?
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The United States uses an electoral college system (more about this below) to elect the vice president and president. Sometimes the Electoral College fails to give a presidential or vice-presidential candidate a majority of the vote. <\/p>\r\n

It’s rare. It’s only happened three times in the nation’s history. But when it does, the 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution serves as an election tie-breaking provision. It provides instruction to address an electoral college tie through a contingent presidential election.<\/p>\r\n

The Constitution directs that when candidates for these top federal offices fail to achieve the voting threshold of 270 electoral votes, the power to elect the president is transferred from the Electoral College to:<\/p>\r\n