Electoral College Tie

Question

If the electoral college results in a tie, and the house votes for Biden which I realize is unlikely and the senate votes for Pence...Is this possible?

Answer 1

Under the electoral college a tie is possible. There are 538 electoral votes so both candidates could hypothetically receive 269 votes each. In the event of a tie, as per Article 2, Section 1 Clause 3 of the US Constitution, the Presidency will be decided in the House and the Vice Presidency will be decided by the Senate. This actually has happened before, twice, during the elections of 1800 and 1824. The most interesting is 1824, which pitted John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, Jackson had received the plurality of the vote, but nobody reached the 131 needed to win. The House then elected John Quincy Adams. Here's the interesting part, though. The House votes en bloc which means that they vote as state delegations, not individual Representatives. So New Jersey's 12 Representatives, 10 Democrats and 2 Republicans, cast their votes and because the Democrats have the majority in New Jersey, it would go to Biden. Whereas, in a state like North Carolina, there are 9 Republicans and 3 Democrats, so it would likely go to Trump. First candidate to 26 states wins. Democrats hold a majority in the House, but there are more State delegations controlled by Republicans so Trump would likely win. In the Senate, it's one Senator = one vote. So if it were a 269-269 electoral tie, both chambers of Congress would likely pick the Republicans in Congress, as of the 116th United States Congress.

Answer 2

According to the Brookings Institute:

If there is no winner in the Electoral College, Article 2, Section 1, Clause 3 states that the decision goes to the House of Representatives while the Senate picks the vice president. But the voting in the House is different from the Senate. In the vote for vice president, each Senator has one vote. But in the House each state has only one vote for president—regardless of its size—and a presidential candidate needs 26 states to win.