candycorn
Diamond Member
Hi.
As we all know, if no candidate gets 270 electoral college votes, the House of Representatives picks the next President.
However, I assumed that the 435 House Members vote, it will be split among party lines, and they decide who is the President.
WRONG!!!
There are 50 votes, one per state.
So if the state has a majority of Republican or Democratic congressmen and women, they will vote for either candidate but the State itself just gets one vote. So if you have a 34-0 GOP majority in Texas, that isn't 34 votes for the republican candidate for President, that is one vote.
It would be interesting to see how it turns out this year. We all know the GOP has the majority in the House but does the majority cut across state lines or are they just have a massive plurality in a few states. It would be intriguing to have this civics lesson play out.
The Senate chooses the VP. This is not done by state delegation, it is one person, one vote: So the Democrats would be able to install Joe Biden (if he's on the ballot) as the VP. If there is a deadlock in the Senate, there is a standing question about whether or not the VP can cast a deciding vote...in this case, a defacto vote for himself.
Interestingly, if the House deadlocks 25 to 25 and can't come up with a President by 1/20 of the following year, Joe Biden--the Vice President-elect-- will be the acting President until the House can select a President.
It won't happen in 2012 but if both the House and the Senate can't pick a POTUS or VPOTUS, the Speaker of the House becomes the acting President until the chambers can do their job. At that point, the new Senate and House will be seated (after 1/20) so the chance of a deadlocked House and and deadlock senate being maintained across 2 Congressional sessions is incredibly small.
As we all know, if no candidate gets 270 electoral college votes, the House of Representatives picks the next President.
However, I assumed that the 435 House Members vote, it will be split among party lines, and they decide who is the President.
WRONG!!!
There are 50 votes, one per state.
So if the state has a majority of Republican or Democratic congressmen and women, they will vote for either candidate but the State itself just gets one vote. So if you have a 34-0 GOP majority in Texas, that isn't 34 votes for the republican candidate for President, that is one vote.
It would be interesting to see how it turns out this year. We all know the GOP has the majority in the House but does the majority cut across state lines or are they just have a massive plurality in a few states. It would be intriguing to have this civics lesson play out.
The Senate chooses the VP. This is not done by state delegation, it is one person, one vote: So the Democrats would be able to install Joe Biden (if he's on the ballot) as the VP. If there is a deadlock in the Senate, there is a standing question about whether or not the VP can cast a deciding vote...in this case, a defacto vote for himself.
Interestingly, if the House deadlocks 25 to 25 and can't come up with a President by 1/20 of the following year, Joe Biden--the Vice President-elect-- will be the acting President until the House can select a President.
It won't happen in 2012 but if both the House and the Senate can't pick a POTUS or VPOTUS, the Speaker of the House becomes the acting President until the chambers can do their job. At that point, the new Senate and House will be seated (after 1/20) so the chance of a deadlocked House and and deadlock senate being maintained across 2 Congressional sessions is incredibly small.