How existing election rules may affect the structure of election campaigns

Abstract

As mentioned earlier, the Constitution determines two mechanisms for electing a President: in the Electoral College and in the House of Representatives. The natural course of an election implies that the participating presidential candidates try to win the election in the Electoral College, and if no one wins there, the election is thrown into Congress. Nevertheless, the Constitution does not prohibit any presidential candidate from running an election campaign aimed at throwing the election into Congress. This extreme election strategy may be a competitive one, for instance, for a candidate who does not have a chance to win a particular election in the Electoral College while his or her party a) has support from at least 26 delegations in the House of Representatives, and b) can secure a two-thirds quorum of fifty states to start the election there. To implement this strategy, the candidate needs a) to receive (not necessarily to win!) at least one electoral vote in December of the election year, when the Electoral College votes, and b) to be among the top three electoral vote-getters in the Electoral College.