As news reporters, we'd like nothing more than a clear and concise winner to report as the election results come in Tuesday night. Whether it be a scenario like 1980, when Republicans carried 44 of the 50 states or 2008, when President Barack Obama beat Sen. John McCain with almost 100 electoral votes to spare. A clear outcome leaves few questions.
What we dread is something like a recap of the 2000 election, when it took more than a month and a Supreme Court ruling before Americans learned who would be their next president.
There are some possible outcomes that could lead to a bit of an election day headache:
*Popular vote vs. Electoral vote
It's happened a few times before, most recently in 2000. The candidate who wins the most votes overall comes in second in Electoral College votes and loses the election.
The electoral college members are chosen by each state of the United States and the District of Columbia. The number of electors is 538, based on the total voting membership of the United States Congress (435 Representatives and 100 Senators) and three electors from the District of Columbia. South Carolina has nine electors total (seven Representatives, two Senators ) this year. The state picked up an additional electoral college vote as we gained the 7th Congressional District.
The Founding Fathers came up with the much-derided system as a compromise between a popular vote and letting Congress pick the president. Attempts to abolish the Electoral College go back more than a half-century and seem to resurface every four years. But for now, it's here to stay. Proponents say doing away with the system would give areas with the densest population too much influence over the election.
With such a close race, it's unlikely, but still possible for a vote split. That's because Romney, in some national polls, is slightly ahead, making it plausible he'll win the popular vote nationwide. But many of the most competitive states, where the election will be decided, seem to be leaning in Obama's direction. Meaning it's possible Obama could lose the popular vote but still win the electoral vote, granting him a second term in the White House.
*Trouble at the polls
Long lines, problems with voting machines and challenges to voters' eligibility could all make for trouble at the polls.
There are also several factors across the country that could lead to hundreds of thousands of provisional ballots. Those ballots are counted only if election officials determine the voters in question were eligible to vote. Different states have different rules on eligibility. It all makes it more likely there won't have a clear winner the night of the election.
Ohio is facing what is being called a "nightmare situation." This year, the state decided to send absentee ballot applications to nearly 7 million registered voters. Before this year, Ohio residents had to ask for an application. As of last Friday, about 1.4 million voters had responded with requests for ballots. A little fewer than 620,000 have returned them. What many of the remaining 800,000 or so may not realize is that if they change their minds and come to the polls on Election Day, they will have to cast a provisional ballot, meaning that their vote won't count until the election board determines that they didn't already vote absentee.
Palm Beach County, Florida is seeing some issues too.
About 27,000 absentee ballots cast by early voters can't be digitally scanned because of a design mistake, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The bad ballots failed to have a break between local candidates and those in races for state Supreme Court justices, making it look like they were all running for the same race. This made it impossible for machines to properly read and count the ballots. So teams of two poll workers, one Republican and one Democrat, are looking at every ballot and marking a new ballot with the same choices.
Obama and Romney have scores of election lawyers on hand, ready to jump into action should the need arise. Experts say it's most likely that litigation over the presidency would come down to Florida or Ohio, the states where Romney and Obama have campaigned the hardest.
*A tie or Romney-Biden
It takes 270 electoral votes to win, but what if both candidates win 269?
A tie has never happened historically. But with an even number of electors, it isn't impossible.
Math-wise, assuming states that have traditionally voted blue or red continue with history, political experts say a tie could be possible among the battleground states. If Pennsylvania (20), Ohio (18), New Hampshire (4), and Wisconsin (10) put their electoral college votes for Obama, but Iowa (6), Florida (29), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13), Colorado (9), and Nevada (6) went to Romney, you could have a split.
If we do have a tie, the first thing the newly-elected House of Representatives would do is pick the president. Republicans control the House now, and are likely to hold on to their majority after Election Day. What's more, instead of all 435 members getting a vote, each state delegation would get one vote. Since Republicans control many of the smaller states with fewer representatives, the GOP would have the advantage in this scenario.
The Senate then gets to pick the vice president. The Senate is in Democratic control and probably will stay that way.
What do you think will happen tonight? Think we'll have a clear winner? Or will we still be trying to figure it out days from now? Leave your answer in a comment below.
The AP contributed to this report.
