What if Florida Can't Vote in Electoral College?

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On Sat., Nov. 11, Palm Beach County, Florida election officials ordered a hand recount of all votes cast in the county and stated that the manual vote count could take as long as 41 days. This, and other possible hand recounts throughout the state, would place a final certification of Florida's vote well beyond the Dec, 18, vote of the Electoral College. 

Should the Florida vote remain uncertified on Dec. 18, the state would be unable to select its electors and their 25 votes would not be cast in the Electoral College.

Under Article 2 of the Constitution, the absence of Florida's vote would simply reduce the total available votes in the Electoral College from 538 to 513 and reduce the number needed for a majority from 270 to 257.

As of Sunday, Nov. 13, Vice President Gore had 255 electoral votes to Gov. Bush's 246 votes. Electoral votes from Florida (25), New Mexico (5) and Oregon (7) remained undecided. 

Should either the New Mexico or Oregon votes be certified for Vice President Gore prior to Dec. 18, he would be elected president even if Florida is unable to cast its votes. Gov. Bush, however, must get Florida's 25 votes in order to win.

Should neither candidate receive a majority of the total votes cast in the Electoral College on Dec. 18 -- with or without Florida's 25 votes -- the Constitution provides that the President be selected by the House of Representatives and the Vice President by the Senate. This process, if necessary, would begin after the new Congress is seated on Jan. 6, 2001. In the House, the vote would be by state, with each state's delegation of representatives getting one vote. The first candidate to get the votes of 26 state delegations -- is the winner.

[For more details on how Congress would select the president, see: What if the Election is a Tie?]

The failure of a state to vote in the Electoral College is covered by federal law under Title 3, Chapter 1, Section 2 of the United States Code, which states:

"§ 2. Whenever any State has held an election for the purpose of choosing electors, and has failed to make a choice on the day prescribed by law, the electors may be appointed on a subsequent day in such a manner as the legislature of such State may direct."