Question: Has a tie ever occurred in the electoral college? When?
Answer: This has happened two times. Once in 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied. Thomas Jefferson won. The second time was in 1824 when the House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson even though he probably had more popular vote.
Learn more about the electoral college:
- What is the electoral college?
- Why did the Founding Fathers create electors?
- How many total electoral votes are there?
- How many electoral votes does a candidate need to win?
- Which states have the most electoral votes?
- How many electors does each state have?
- What about Washington, D.C. and the electoral vote?
- What happens if there is a tie in the electoral college?
- Who are the electors?
- What procedure is followed for the electors to vote?
- Has someone received a plurality of the vote yet lost in the electoral college?
- Why don't the candidates get a proportion of the electoral vote?
- If the state's winner chooses electors, won't the person with the most votes win?
- Why have elections when the state's winner will receive all the electoral votes?
- When do we finally have an official winner?
