What happens if there’s a tie in 2024? Be ready for a ‘contingent election’

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With two presidential candidates fighting over a mere 538 Electoral College votes, a tie scenario is more than possible. It’s actually kind of surprising there has only been one tied election so far, in 1800, between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.

That tie was the result of a failure of coordination by Democratic-Republicans, but it led to the nation’s first “contingent election,” decided in the House of Representatives.

Could a tie actually happen this year?

Yes. While a tie is not a likely outcome, it is something to be ready for. Here is one plausible scenario for the 2024 election:

If Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, wins Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada and a single electoral vote in Nebraska, all of which President Joe Biden won in 2020, but she loses Pennsylvania and Georgia, there’s a tie, 269-269.

The website 270 to Win also has more tied-election scenarios.

Unlike every other state, Maine and Nebraska award two electors to the statewide winner and one to the winner of each congressional district. Those individual, competitive electoral votes in Maine and Nebraska become hugely consequential in potential tie scenarios.

Make your own 269-269 scenario with CNN’s interactive election map.

What happens if there’s a tie?

If there’s a 269-269 tie, or if a third party or independent candidate wins electoral votes and keeps a candidate from reaching an Electoral College majority of 270, the next step is the same. It’s called a “contingent election.”

According to the 12th Amendment, enacted in the wake of that divisive 1800 election, if