# Hypothetical Electoral College question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-electoral-college-question/41151>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 14, 2000, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-electoral-college-question/41151 "2000-11-14T14:32:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-electoral-college-question/41151/1 "2000-11-14T14:32:37Z")

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Ok, I know everyone is sick of hearing about it, but I was wondering about something.

IIRC, there are 538 electoral votes up for grabs, right? We keep hearing that the potential winner needs 270 to win, which is a majority of the votes (without it being a tie). (right?)

Just suppose (this is a BIG suppose, but bear with me) that Nader and Buchanan both got enough popular votes to capture a couple of states each. What if the four candidates (Bush, Gore, Nader and Buchanan) each got 130-some electoral votes…who would win? The person with the most electoral votes? Or does the potential winner HAVE to get 270 votes?

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-electoral-college-question/41151/2 "2000-11-14T14:36:42Z")

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Potential winner HAS to get 270. Do a search here with the key words “electoral college tie”, and you’ll probably get about 6 threads.

Also, check out the 12th and 22nd amendments, which cover this.

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**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-electoral-college-question/41151/3 "2000-11-14T14:39:30Z")

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Here’s the Constitution:

[http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html](http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html)

And the 22nd has nothing to do with it. Its in the 12th and Article 2, Section 1.

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**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-electoral-college-question/41151/4 "2000-11-14T17:02:14Z")

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If nobody gets a majority of electoral votes, then it is decided by the House of Representatives. The three highest electoral vote-getters would be voted on by the House. Each state delegation gets one vote.

So, in your hypothetical, Gore, Bush and Nader would all have a shot at the presidency.