Pelosi preparing for House to decide presidency if neither Trump or Biden win electoral college: report

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is reportedly preparing lawmakers for the possibility of an Electoral College tie forcing the House to decide the presidential election, according to a Politico report published Sunday.

Such a scenario would involve each of the 50 state delegations in the House having just one vote in the process, Pelosi reportedly warned House Democrats in a letter Sunday, and would force Democrats to shift their strategy ahead of November.

“The Constitution says that a candidate must receive a majority of the state delegations to win,” the House leader wrote, according to Politico. “We must achieve that majority of delegations or keep the Republicans from doing so.”

A tie in the Electoral College could result from a number of scenarios, including neither candidate reaching 270 electoral votes due to voting totals or as the result of so-called faithless electors, who do not vote for the candidate who is victorious in their state.

An elector hasn’t voted for the candidate to come in second place in their state since 1968, according to 270 To Win, but in 2016 an unusually high electors refused to cast their votes at all.

Republicans currently hold overall control of 26 state delegations, compared to 23 for Democrats. Pennsylvania’s delegation is split evenly. Both of those numbers could change wildly in November, however, as all 435 voting members of the House are up for reelection.