Election process if no one gets a majority in the Elec College?

[Demrepdan]

I still havent got a reply to the main questions and would be very keen to know.
I'm gonna state em again just so its clear what I'm asking.

A) We have confirmed that each state gets a single vote decided by the delegation. Does anyone know what happens if a delegation is evenly split between candidates? That would actually happen in several cases right now. eg. In Mississippi the GOP and dems each have two reps.
 How does the delegations one vote get decided?

B) What happens if the house is split 25-25 on the top two candidates?


C) While I'm at it, does anyone know who gets control of the House if its split 50-50. Right now there are 435 seats so either party should have a majority of at least 218 but suppose one member refuses to vote or dies and the house is split 217-217, What happens?
The senate provision for Vice-Pres deciding vote is well known but I've never heard of any provision for an even split in the house.

 A)   To answer the question about what would happen if the delegation is evenly split within the state, like with Mississippi. More than likely they would have to just fight it out until someone gives in. I am taking all my information from a book I remember reading as well as the internet, and I'm very upset that I can't find any of this information again. I will look for it again. But if I am unable to, I would greatly appreciate if anyone else would confirm or deny what I say.

B)  From what I understand, and I know I may not be right, so if anyone would like to correct me, go right ahead. But from what I understand, if the election is thrown to the house, and the state delegations vote 25 to 25, then the House would just keep voting, and voting, and voting, until something changes. And if it doesn't change (because you've got some hard headed polititians out there) then the Vice President (assuming that the Senate was successfull in electing the Vice President) would be sworn in as President at noon on January 20th. Uh oh, but what if the state delegations are 25-25, AND the Senate is 50-50. Well, then I guess the world will end! Or if you consider the line of succession, the Speaker of the House would become President.

C)  I'm fairly certain I know the answer to this question, even more so than the other questions. First lets start with the Senate. If the Senate is 50-50, then we all know that the Vice President gets to be the deciding vote. But if the House is, lets say,  218 Republicans to 217 Democrats, and one of the Republicans die making it 217 to 217,  then they would just have to wait for the election of the missing person. Unlike the Senate, if someone dies or resigns from the House, an emergency election takes place right away in his or her district. During the time span in which it is split 217 to 217, the Speaker of the House (who would be a Republican, following my scenerio) would continue to be Speaker. One thing I'll have to look up though, it is my impression that the Speaker is elected to serve for the duration of the congress. Accordingly, he would serve from January 3rd of one odd numberd year to January 3rd of another odd numberd year. Therefore, even if 10 Republcians die or resign and 10 Democrats are elected to replace them, making it 227 Democrats to 208 Republicans, the Republican Speaker would continue to be Speaker of the House.

[Demrepdan]

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There you have it. If the President-elect can not serve as President, then the Vice President-elect shall serve as President until such a time when the congress can qualify a person to become President. Also in the 25th Amendment, as we all know the line of Presidential succession is Speaker of the House after the Vice President, therefore it is implied that if neither the President OR Vice President is elected by January 20th, then the Speaker shall assume the office of President until such a time when congress has qualified the President or Vice President. But in order to do so, the Speaker must first resign from office of Speaker as well as Representative, which would force him to lose a great deal of power. Accordingly, this would give the Speaker the incentive to make SURE that there is either a President-elect or Vice President-elect by January 20th.

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There you go.  It never says in the constitution that the Speaker MUST be a member of the majority part, let alone does he have to be a member of the House of Representatives! However, it is implied that the Speaker shall be a House member (as the speaker always has been) and it is also implied that the Speaker be in the majority party. Accordingly, I would guess that if there were a quick CHANGE in power in the House (e.g. my scenario from my previous post), they would call for an emergency election of a new Speaker. But he doesn’t gotta be kicked out. But I’m sure that the majority party would just go CRAZY if the Speaker was of the minority party. Thus, a new election for Speaker would be held.

[Demrepdan]

It wouldn't be a "constitutional crises". The election would just be thrown the the House of Representatives for the third time in U.S. history, and for the first time since 1824.
   If that were to happen to GWB, that would be pretty funny. John Quincy Adams (son of a former President, like W Bush is) did not recieve the majority of the popular vote (just like GWB). In addition to that, John Q. Adams was elected by the House of Representatives.
     And if that 269 to 269 tie were to occur in the 2004 election, Bush would get elected by the House (just as Quincy did) since the House would be in Republican control by the end of 2004, and most likely into 2005.
   The humor in that would be, that George W. Bush would be elected twice without being what many consider to be "officially" elected. Since he didn't win the majority of the popular vote in the 2000 election, and with my given scenario, he wouldn't have even been elected by the Electoral College in the 2004 election. So he would be like John Quincy Adams in that respect. The son of a former President, who was never "really" elected President.

[Demrepdan]

Here's another thought:  If the speaker of the House must resign to become president in such a horrible split, then he would have to give up his vote in his delegation, which could shift his state's vote and break the tie.  And if the vote were taken on the same day as the former speaker's inauguration, then that speaker would have only served for a few hours and have gauranteed the other party's election!

The House Vote would take place shortly after they count the Electoral Votes. So sometime around January 6th. Accordingly, the speaker would have NO reason to resign yet. He would be able to vote in his state delegation, and if there were a tie in the state delegations, THEN he would be forced to resign from his office of Speaker and U.S. Representative. He would probably resign shortly before January 20th, after the House has attempted to resolve the matter many times. If there is a tie in state delegations, they CAN keep voting until someone wins. But if the deciding state delegation is  just too stubborn, resulting in a tie in the House, then the Speaker would have to take the office of President.

Furthermore, if the Speaker lives in a state that has a tied delegation, that would give him the incentive to vote for the other party JUST so the election would be decided, and he would not have to give up all his power. Remember, that the Speaker may very well not serve as President the entire four years, but until Congress has decided who the next President should be, so the Speaker would more than likely be President for a short period of time. Therefore, he would have to give up ALL that power as Speaker, just to be President for a short while.

Even if he didn’t live in a state with a tied delegation, that would give him the incentive to work hard with congress, and attempt to sway some Republicans to vote for the Democrat, or vice versa, in those states with tied delegations.

[Demrepdan]

Still would be a member, maybe just not speaker.

No person may hold any other office while President.

Therefore, if the Speaker became President he would have to resign from both the office of Speaker AND U.S. Representative.