What happens if the presidential election ends in a tie?

What happens if neither presidential candidate gets 270 electoral college votes?

What would happen if neither Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump get the 270 electoral college votes that it takes to become the president? In that case, according to the 12th Amendment, the House would decide the president and the Senate would choose the VP. This has only happened once before. Casey Burgat, an assistant professor at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management talks about the possibility of this outcome.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are in a very tight race according to recent polling. But what would happen if the race ended in a tie?

"Within the Electoral College, it takes 270 electoral College votes to win. That's how you get sworn in as president," said Casey Burgat, assistant professor at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. "But there's a chance, not a big one, but a real one, that there could be a 269-269 tie. Without the majority, you cannot be elected president. And then it kicks into kind of that ‘break glass in case of emergency’ mode of electing the commander in chief."

So what does that look like?

If neither candidate gets 270 Electoral College votes, the House of Representatives would choose the president, and the Senate would choose the vice president.

"This is called a contingent election and the House of Representatives decides. Each state gets one vote. And so that's decided by the delegation there. If you have more Republicans than Democrats from that state, they're going to vote to be Republican and that state gets that one vote. So 50 votes and then a majority wins," said Burgat.

Burgat says if it were to end in a tie, it wouldn't look good for Harris.

"You have to look at how many states are controlled by more Republicans than Democrats. And there, Republicans have a more solid advantage where they only have a four seat majority. If you look at the raw numbers they control right now, 26 states in the House and probably grow by one or two after this next election, which would give Donald Trump a pretty secure path to victory if it went to the House," said Burgat.