What happens if none of the presidental candidate achieve the required number of electoral votes to become president? How is the president decided?
Then the president is chosen by the House of Represenatives:
Coin toss. Or arm wrestling. I forget.
Seriously, though, I think it’s in the Constitution somewhere.
John Quincy Adams was so selected - he actually got fewer electoral votes than Andrew Jackson (who won the next election). But Jackson didn’t have a majority, and the House elected Adams.
Jefferson was also chosen by the House.
It’s important to remember that when the House picks the President, the winner is the individual who wins the most delegations, not the most Representatives. That is, all the Representatives from a state vote en bloc and their votes sum to one. A delegation evenly split could not cast a vote.
As to the possibility (not alluded to in the OP) of three candidates getting E votes with no majority, this could result in a lot of House delegations being split three ways. Would a plurality be sufficient to result in the state’s vote being cast? I mean, if a seven-member delegation gave two of its “sub-votes” to Nader, and three to Buchanan, and two to Hagelin, would its real vote be given to Buchanan, or to no one at all? I don’t know.
Electing a tied Vice Presidency is easier - the Senate only picks from the top two candidates, and each Senator has only one vote. relieved sigh