What Happens If the Presidential Election Is a Tie

What Happens If the Presidential Election Is a Tie In four instances, the Electoral College, not the popular vote, has determined the outcome of a presidential election. Although there has never been a tie, the U.S. Constitution outlines a process for resolving such a scenario. Heres what would happen and who the players involved are if the 538 electors sit down after the election and vote 269 to 269. The U.S. Constitution When the U.S. first gained its independence, Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution outlined the process for selecting electors and the process by which they would select a president. At the time, electors could vote for two different candidates for president; whoever lost that vote would become vice president. This led to serious controversies in the elections of 1796 and 1800. In response, U.S. Congress ratified the 12th Amendment in 1804. The amendment clarified the process by which electors should vote. More importantly, it described what to do in the event of an electoral tie. The amendment states that the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President† and â€Å"the Senate shall choose the Vice-President. The process is also used in the event that no candidate wins 270 or more Electoral College votes. The House of Representatives As directed by the 12th Amendment, the 435 members of the House of Representatives must make their first official duty the selection of the next president. Unlike the Electoral College system, where larger population equals more votes, each of the 50 states in the House gets exactly one vote when selecting the president. It is up to the delegation of representatives from each state to decide how their state will cast its one and only vote. Smaller states like Wyoming, Montana, and Vermont, with only one representative, wield as much power as California or New York. The District of Columbia does not get a vote in this process. The first candidate to win the votes of any 26 states is the new president. The 12th Amendment gives the House until the fourth day of March to select a president. The Senate At the same time that the House is selecting the new president, the Senate must select the new vice president. Each of the 100 senators gets one vote, with a simple majority of 51 senators required to select the vice president. Unlike the House, the 12th Amendment places no time limit on the Senates selection of a vice president. If There Is Still a Tie With 50 votes in the House and 100 votes in the Senate, there could still be tie votes for both president and vice president. Under the 12th Amendment, as amended by the 20th Amendment, if the House has failed to select a new president by Jan. 20, the vice president-elect serves as acting president until the deadlock is resolved. In other words, the House keeps voting until the tie is broken. This assumes that the Senate has selected a new vice president. If the Senate has failed to break a 50-50 tie for vice president, the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 specifies that the Speaker of the House will serve as acting president until tie votes in both the House and Senate have been broken. Past Election Controversies In the controversial 1800 presidential election, an Electoral College tie vote occurred between Thomas Jefferson and his running mate,  Aaron Burr. The tie-breaking vote made Jefferson president, with Burr declared vice president, as the Constitution required at the time. In 1824, none of the four candidates won the required majority vote in the Electoral College. The House elected  John Quincy Adams president despite the fact that Andrew Jackson had won the popular vote and the most electoral votes. In 1837, none of the vice presidential candidates won a majority in the Electoral College. The Senate vote made Richard Mentor Johnson vice president over Francis Granger. Since then, there have been some very close calls. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes defeated Samuel Tilden by a single electoral vote, 185 to 184. And in 2000, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 271 to 266 electoral votes in an election that ended in the Supreme Court.

Television as a Cultural Transporter in Human Lives Essay

Television as a Cultural Transporter in Human Lives - Essay Example Man has been benefiting by the abovementioned term that has powerfully provided an informative, as well as, interactive platform throughout the world. Briefly, various services and resources have been collected and provided by the television in an entertaining manner for the improvement and promotion of humankind. In the history of humankind, the field of communication has developed a lot, and one of the most outstanding innovations is conceivably, the television. (Burns, pp. 52-56, 1998) However, everything has its advantages, as well as, disadvantages, and it depends upon the person to either benefit by it, or allow the matter to harm the surroundings. Thus, television and television broadcasting has also advantages, as well as, drawbacks; however, disadvantages have been outweighed by the superior enormity of its advantages. Although, it is a common thought that the principle ingredients of the television are dramas, soaps, advertising, and the news. However, television constitutes of more than the abovementioned tools and resources, which will be discussed in this paper. Nowadays, contemporary state of affairs has been benefiting by this tool, which has proved itself as one of the best among rest of the world. Today, a single room has been presented as a new and innovative appearance of the whole globe. (Dornfield, pp. 51-54, 1998) Currently, a student can even acquire his education on the television without even standing up from his chair. On the other hand, a businessperson can make a deal by being updated of best suppliers, as well as, latest technologies around the world without any visa application, as well as, without any travelling expenses, which was not possible some decades ago. Moreover, a South African can catch latest news of an event occurring in United Kingdom, which has only become possible due to the availability of the television broadcasting in almost every corner of the world. In addition, hundreds of channels can be seen and entertain millions of viewers and captivate them within some remote clicks, and without collecting the videos that require lots of space. Interestingly, shopping can also be done on television within minutes with the help of credit cards without roaming in the rush of shopping malls, which has been greatly appreciated by the female populace of the globe. Thus, television has become a matter of just fingertips, and has promoted, as well as, assisted the humans in achieving a better and improved place in their lives. (Cole, pp. 32-38, 1970) In other words, a small global village has been formed by the creation and introduction of television into the human lives. Communication has become a matter of seconds from one corner of the world to another. A number of news channels have been established to provide current affairs, recent updates, breaking news, business news, etc. to millions of viewers from different and diverse cultures around the globe. Reliability and speed is being innovated and improved day by day, which has changed the perceptions of humans at all. It is now just a fraction of second to check the weather report of an African city, or study the European culture from the