What if everyone just stayed home, even the candidates? For the President, the House of Representatives would vote for it, but what about everyone else (congressmen, senators, governors, state legislators, councilmen, etc.)?
Additionally, pretend someone is running unopposed on the ballot for say, Governor of Maryland. Nobody shows up to vote, not even the unopposed candidate, except for me, and I write myself in. Am I the next Governor of the Free State?
I don’t think that the House of Representatives would get to choose unless there were a tie in the Electoral College. Most likely the individual states have laws on how their elections are decided in the event of a tie, and this would presumably include ties in the vote for the delegates to the Electoral College (which is what you’re technically voting for when you vote.) In Texas, for example, tied elections can be (and have been) resolved by a game of chance.
In the case of the presidential election, the House of Representatives only gets involved if the electoral college fails to achieve a majority. A popular vote is not necessary for that to occur; each state legislature can appoint its presidential electors in any manner it sees fit. It’s just because they’re all such nice guys that they have in recent times chosen to hold public elections for this purpose.
In the case of Senators, the governor of each state usually has the power to appoint people to fill vacant seats. The House is a bigger conundrum since vacancies are required to be handled by calling for special elections, which we presume nobody will vote in.
Hopefully there will be enough people left in the lame-duck session of two thirds of the states to pass a constitutional amendment declaring someone supreme dictator for life.
President has an interesting issue - you are actually voting for a slate of electors for the electoral college, who are pledged to vote for your candidate. With no votes, you now have to question how your state would appoint its slate. It goes to the house only if there isn’t a winner in the electoral college.
I recall once (not sure how true) that in the event of a tie in Canadian elections, the Chief Returning Officer for the riding sealed a ballot and it would be used to break the tie if necessary. From recounts on the news and such, I have never heard of this situation.
I wonder if the congressional districts have any such provision? Essentially, 0 votes is a tie. Then what?
No. According toMaryland’s election law, to be an official write-in candidate, you must file a Certificate of Candidacy no later than Wednesday before the general election.
If Maryland is like Michigan, and the above sounds about right, votes for non-official write-in candidates don’t get counted.