Looking for the name and/or author of a story about a close presidential election in which the election was not decided by the Electoral College, and was thrown into the House of Representatives. (I don't remember why; maybe a third-party candidate got some EC votes or maybe it ended in a tie; I just don't remember the reason.)
Much of the novel was taken up by the procedures in the House. The Constitution says each state gets one vote, and it requires a majority of the states to win. (DC, which gets 3 votes in the electoral college, has no vote in the House). In the states where there is only one representative, that representative determines the single vote for that state. The dilemma arises for that one representative when the Rep. is from one party and the candidate who won the popular vote in that state is from the other party. WHich way does the representative vote? Under house rules established in 1800 (and followed in the novel), a majority of the state's representatives must agree before the state can cast a ballot for anybody. If a majority do not agree, that state cannot cast a ballot in the house.
I've looked everywhere I can think of to find the name and/or author of this novel. I'd like to read it again. Can anybody help? When was the novel? - several years ago, maybe decades, probably around the time there was a third-party candidate (Ross Perot? John ANderson? George Wallace?)
