# Electoral College defectors if Trump 270, Hillary 268, or a 269-269 tie

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electoral-college-defectors-if-trump-270-hillary-268-or-a-269-269-tie/762213>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [August 9, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electoral-college-defectors-if-trump-270-hillary-268-or-a-269-269-tie/762213 "2016-08-09T01:41:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electoral-college-defectors-if-trump-270-hillary-268-or-a-269-269-tie/762213/21 "2016-08-18T04:40:25Z")

</div>

my guess is that the House would use the number of popular votes each one got as the tie-breaker, after the tied electoral votes. But that’s just a guess.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electoral-college-defectors-if-trump-270-hillary-268-or-a-269-269-tie/762213/22 "2016-08-18T19:48:38Z")

</div>

If there is a lawsuit past Friday Jan 20th, 2017… what happens? If nobody is declared “winner” does the current POTUS just hang out?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electoral-college-defectors-if-trump-270-hillary-268-or-a-269-269-tie/762213/23 "2016-08-18T21:37:56Z")

</div>

> [@Dob](#):
>
> If there is a lawsuit past Friday Jan 20th, 2017… what happens? If nobody is declared “winner” does the current POTUS just hang out?

In that case the incoming VP is acting President. If no POTUS or VPOTUS is decided upon presumably the acting POTUS wold be the next in line of succession, the Speaker of the House.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electoral-college-defectors-if-trump-270-hillary-268-or-a-269-269-tie/762213/24 "2016-08-19T01:27:25Z")

</div>

If the election is looking like it will be 269-269 or even a slight Trump win, what are the chances that one or two Republican electors or even a state (Utah I’m looking at you) would pick someone other than Johnson or Stein (Ryan for example) so that they can be the third person for the House to consider.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electoral-college-defectors-if-trump-270-hillary-268-or-a-269-269-tie/762213.md?page=1)