What Happens If Obama And McCain Reach Exact Tie In Electoral College? Considering the possibility of a 269-269 electoral tie, here are the numbers. The simulation returned a tie 63 times out of 10,000 trials (0.63 percent). These 63 ties involved 56 distinct scenarios for producing that tie. So what happens if there is a tie? Check out the Cliff's Notes version of the 12th Amendment with more data than you can shake a stick at.