What happens if the presidential election between Biden and Trump ends in a TIE? It happened exactly 200 years ago...

As the 2024 general election season heats up, President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are in a tight rematch that could come down to just a few thousand votes in several battleground states.

But with the election being decided on the margins, there's a question over whether either major party presidential hopeful will reach the necessary 270 Electoral College votes to win the election outright this fall. 

All Trump needs in his rematch with the president is to flip a few swing states back to red, but even then, there's one scenario where the election results in neither candidate winning the required majority in the Electoral College. So what then? 

It has happened before - some 200 years ago in the presidential election of 1824.

In that election, the contest splintered four ways between candidates Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford and Henry Clay, meaning no candidate received the necessary majority of electoral votes to win outright.

President John Quincy Adams was sixth president of the United States. He served from March 1825 to March 1829. He did not receive the majority in the Electoral College

It was the first and only time the presidential election had to be decided by the House of Representatives since the ratification of the 12th Amendment.

It was also the only time a presidential candidate with the most electoral votes did not win the presidency. 

The country had far fewer states back then; the Electoral College was much smaller as well. 

Jackson had 99 electoral votes and John Quincy Adams had the second most with 84, but Adams went on to become the sixth President of the United States.

That's because the decision went to the House in the so-called contingent election -- where states decided who would be the next president.

'The House of Representatives has oversight,' said Casey Burgat, legislative affairs program director at George Washington University. 

'Instead of each individual member having a vote, each state votes in blocks,' he expained. 'In effect, one vote per state and the majority there wins.'

President Andrew Jackson received the popular vote and more electoral votes in the 1824 presidential election over John Quincy Adams, but none of the four candidates received a majority, so the election went to the House of Representatives under the 12th Amendment 

The House elected President John Quincy Adams despite him not receiving the greatest number of electoral votes in the 1824 election

A tally sheet from the 1824 election that shows no candidate won the majority of the electoral vote throwing the election to the House. The document shows Jackson received 99 electoral votes, Adams 84 votes, Crawford 41 votes and Clay 37 votes

A cartoon from the 1824 election which depicts a foot race toward the White House with candidates John Quincy Adams, William Crawford and Andrew Jackson

Jackson argued that having won the most electoral college votes and the popular vote, he should be president.

But Adams actively met with members of Congress including House Speaker Clay, who had come in fourth in the presidential race and won his home state of Kentucky. 

In the end, Adams went on to be elected president by the House on the first ballot by winning thirteen states to Jackson's seven states. Crawford received four states.

Kentucky's state legislature even directed its delegation to vote for Jackson, but they instead went for Adams, and after the inauguration, Clay was tapped by President Adams for Secretary of State.

While several presidents in recent history have won the presidency without the popular vote including Trump in 2016, they have still managed to take a majority of electoral votes, meaning the process by which the House decides has not been used for 200 years.

But there is the possibility that no candidate receives the majority of electoral votes this fall. The magic number is 270 electoral votes needed to win.

In 2020, Biden received 306 electoral votes while Trump received 232. Polling suggests Trump could flip some of the six battleground states this fall. 

If the ex-president flips Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, but the rest of the map stays the same, he still comes up short, and Biden wins with with exactly 270 electoral votes.

But if Trump four states then he takes the electoral vote majority outright. But no matter how the battleground states may shake up differently in 2024, it will be close.

President Biden won 306 electoral votes in 2020 while Trump received 232. The race is likely to come down to the same six swing states in 2024. Either candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency

Independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. speaking at a rally in Texas on May 13

There are questions about the impact third party candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. will have on the election map and whether he will pull support from Biden thus helping Trump pick up more states this fall or denying Biden the necessary electoral votes this fall.

The likely close Electoral College vote even had some Republicans pushing for Nebraska to change its electoral vote process to a winner-take-all one last month. The state is one of two that dolls out electoral votes in a proportional manner.

If it changed, it would deny Biden the possibility of one of the red state's electoral votes after he won the state's second congressional district and its electoral vote in the last election.

Trump and the state's Republican governor even got behind the effort before it was shot down in the state legislature, raising the possibility the electoral vote could split 269 to 269 and therefore going to the House.

If the 2024 election is decided by the House, conventional wisdom is Trump could win the presidency. 

Republicans control 26 House state delegations while Democrats control 22. Another two split evenly. 

Ex-president Donald Trump at a campaign rally on the beach in Wildwood, NJ on May 11

President Joe Biden greets a supporter at a campaign event in Wisconsin on May 8

But since it has been 200 years since a contingent election, there are a lot of questions that could be raised. 

'The date is probably the biggest unknown out there,' said Burgat. 'There's no set date. We know that has to happen by the inauguration date, but the House gets to decide when to have that contingent election.'

He said he suspects it would be conducted with a roll call vote, but in the modern age, it is unclear whether delegations could make use of electronic voting.

Burgat also noted, conventional wisdom aside, the reality is, each state has its own rules, so some state delegations may be bound to the candidate who won the state's Electoral College votes.

He questioned 'even though Republicans have the majority of that delegation, if the Democrat won that state Electoral College, are they binding them in a contingent election to go how their Electoral College vote does?'

Either way it would be decided state-by-state, and it only gets more complicated from there.