Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Election 2016: What happens if Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton end up with same number of votes?

A tie has only been declared twice in the history of the United States

Katie Forster
Wednesday 09 November 2016 04:20 GMT
Comments
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton leave the stage after the final presidential debate on 19 October
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton leave the stage after the final presidential debate on 19 October

There is a very slim, but not impossible, chance that the US presidential election will result in a draw.

The world is holding its breath as Donald Trump edges ahead in key battleground states and leading pollsters including the New York Times swing in favour of the Republican candidate.

But if no candidate wins 270 or more votes in the Electoral College system, a tie could be declared.

The US president is not directly chosen by voters, but by ‘electors’ that people in a state vote for.

The more people in a state, the more electors an area has. For example, Texas has a population of 25 million and is afforded 38 Electoral College votes, while Delaware has a population of 936,000 and has only three votes.

Almost every state chooses to allocate all its Electoral College votes to whoever comes in first place statewide, regardless of their margin of victory.

There are 538 electors in total – meaning that it could be possible for neither presidential candidate to secure a majority, if both receive 269 votes each.

If this were to take place, the House of Representatives would choose the President.

This has only happened twice in the history of the United States. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr won 73 votes each and the vote was split four ways in 1824.

The Electoral College system was established to ensure regional balance, as it makes it mathematically impossible for a candidate with large amounts of support in just one region to overwhelm the vote.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in