pulling Ping pong ball determines mayor

By Kristy Wolski
NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. — For the first time ever, the winner of Florida's Duval County elections, Richard Arthur, was decided in a game of chance.
No military overseas ballots came in for the Neptune Beach City Council Seat 4 race by 7 p.m. Friday. Arthur faced challenger Rory Diamond because the two remained tied at 1,448 votes apiece.
The winner was decided at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

There were three rounds to the game of chance and the rules were very specific.
Here is a look at the basic rules:
In the first round, there was a drawing of names to determine which candidate calls the coin toss. The candidate who prevailed in round decided whether he would like to be first or last to draw a ping-pong ball in round three.
In the third round, 20 ping-pong balls will be placed in a bag numbered 1-20. The first candidate will draw a number and then place the ball back in the bag. The second candidate will then draw. The

Video and article here

- See more at: http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/news/weird-news/game-chance-will-decide-neptune-beach-city-counci/nh7ws/?icmp=cmgcontent_internallink_relatedcontent_2014_partners2#sthash.SbHXFeMf.dpuf











http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/news/weird-news/game-chance-will-decide-neptune-beach-city-counci/nh7ws/?icmp=cmgcontent_internallink_relatedcontent_2014_partners2

What would happen if there were a 270-270 Electoral College tie, followed by a 25-25 tie in the House of Representatives, which would be invoked to choose the president, with each state getting one vote.

Quote: Wizard

What would happen if there were a 270-270 Electoral College tie, followed by a 25-25 tie in the House of Representatives, which would be invoked to choose the president, with each state getting one vote.

Goes to the Senate, then if that is deadlocked I believe VPOTUS steps up. If it stays tied then I think Speaker of the House gets to be new POTUS.

Quote: AZDuffman

If it stays tied then I think Speaker of the House gets to be new POTUS.

What if the Speaker gets voted out in the same election. Does the old or new Speaker get to choose?

Quote: Wizard

What would happen if there were a 270-270 Electoral College tie, followed by a 25-25 tie in the House of Representatives, which would be invoked to choose the president, with each state getting one vote.

Is 270 270 feasible.
If all 50 states toss ups, maybe possible. But the reality is there are solid red and blue states.
But with only say 12 purple states, is 270 270 posible?

Quote: Wizard

What if the Speaker gets voted out in the same election. Does the old or new Speaker get to choose?

The new speaker.

See the 20th amendment

Quote: Wizard

What if the Speaker gets voted out in the same election. Does the old or new Speaker get to choose?

As above, there will always be a Speaker, if a Speaker loses his or her seat a new Speaker will be elected. The one who chooses will be the one in the seat for that session of Congress. Congress starts in early January, before the new POTUS takes office. This was an issue in NY because Hillary was Senator same time as Bill was still in office but if she waited until he let to take her seat her seniority would have fallen to the bottom.

Quote: terapined

Is 270 270 feasible.
If all 50 states toss ups, maybe possible. But the reality is there are solid red and blue states.
But with only say 12 purple states, is 270 270 posible?

Technically, it would have to be a 269-269 tie since there are 538 Electoral College delegates. The 270 number is the "50% + 1" needed for a majority.

435 (# of Representatives) + 100 (# of Senators) + 3 (Washington D.C. EC delegates) = 538

As to the "toss up" part of your question, there are several ways this could happen. Here's one: if one candidate carried CA, TX, FL, NY, IL, PA, OH, GA, MI, NC, NJ, VA, & NV (12 most populous states plus Nevada), and his opponent won the rest, it would be a 269-269 tie.

Without changing the "solid" red or blue states, it would be tough, but I bet it would be possible.

It is not necessary for the vote of the Electoral College to result in a tie. The office is decided by the House of Representatives whenever there is not an absolute majority of Electors voting for one candidate. It could be something like 210 & 205 & 123 for three candidates among the Electors.

That is how it has happened in the past, as when Andrew Jackson was denied the office (as "an honest man and the idol of the worshipers of military glory, but from incapacity, military habits, and habitual disregard of laws and constitutional provisions, altogether unfit for the office") after receiving a plurality of both popular and Electoral College votes, for one example (Jackson 41% & 99; Adams 31% & 84; Crawford 11% & 41; Clay 13% & 37). And that's probably the most likely circumstance for it in the future, as when William J. Clinton was elected as President in 1992 after receiving 43% of the popular vote (but in that case did have an absolute majority of Electoral votes).

The authors of the Constitution thought the Presidency would usually be finally determined in the House more often than not, after the meeting of the Electors which were selected by the vote of State legislators in each State. On the whole it was intended to prevent the destructive "we'll kill your neighbor because he's one of 'those awful people' so you can eat him and get free goodies" appeal of what might politely be called "populism" (*ahem* the phenomenon otherwise sometimes described as fascism, or much of the usual content of a typical WoV political thread).

Quote: Wizard

What would happen if there were a 270-270 Electoral College tie, followed by a 25-25 tie in the House of Representatives, which would be invoked to choose the president, with each state getting one vote.

Section 3 of the 20th Amendment covers this:

Quote: 20th Amendment to the Constitution, Section 3

If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

I suspect some people here may have heard of a few of these in Nevada before:

CANDIDATE WINS NV PRIMARY WITH QUEEN OF CLUBS (July, 2010)

Nevada Election Winner Determined by Card Draw (January, 2009)

'Draw!' Settles an Election Tie in Nevada (November, 2002)

I find that more pleasing somehow than a ping pong ball.