Contingent election

A contingent election is the fallback procedure the Twelfth Amendment provides when no presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral votes (270 of 538). It sends the decision to the House of Representatives.

The House chooses from among the top three electoral-vote recipients. Each state delegation casts a single vote, regardless of its size, and a majority of the states (26) is required to win. Meanwhile, the Senate chooses the vice president from the top two candidates, with each senator casting one vote. If the House has not chosen a president by January 20, the vice president-elect acts as president. The House must be the newly elected one, and delegations vote based on their members' preferences.

It has been used twice, in 1801, when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied, and in 1825, when John Quincy Adams was chosen over Andrew Jackson, who had won more electoral and popular votes. Possible scenarios, such as a third-party candidate winning electors, are often cited in debates about the system. Because the vote is by state delegation, small states have equal weight to large ones, which proponents defend and critics call distorted. The Electoral College and the Electoral Count Act set the stage.