It's obviously not going to happen, but let's play hypotheticals for a minute. Do you have to have at least 270 electoral votes, or is the requirement just an electoral majority? Hypothetically – and the chance of this happening is obviously nil – if 10 people who are supposed to vote for Trump in the electoral college decides to be faithless and abstain or vote for Hillary, what would happen? At that point Trump would have 269 electoral votes and Hillary would have 218-228. Does Trump still win or does it go to the house for a vote? (Where Trump most certainly will be voted president anyway, so moot point.)
I find the US electoral system fascinating, and scary complex.
I won't get too much into the various possibilities, but simply put, if neither candidate has 270 electoral votes, then the election is decided by congress, the incoming one. So really there is no chance its not trump.
Right, and congress must vote from the available candidates, and couldn't pick anyone? Obviously none of this will happen, but it's fun to think about I think.
If you've seen the tv show Veep, they play around with a similar scenario, but one where the electoral college is tied. In the show, congress also ends up in a tie, and so elects the vice president into office instead. As far as I understand the rules though, the vice president would only be elevated to president in case congress can't resolve the matter before inauguration day, and will only hold the office until congress resolves the tie and picks a president.
I probably have most of this wrong, but I think it's very interesting to hypothesize about the possibilities, no matter how remote. I obviously don't think any of this would happen, but it's fun to think about.
Until the 12th amendment, there were no running mates. First place in the electoral college was President, and 2nd place was VP.
In the 1796 election (John Adams and Thomas Jefferson), the President and VP happened to be bitter enemies -- parties were forming -- and 8 years later that system was done away with.
As you point out, it is still possible it could happen, though less likely.
I find the US electoral system fascinating, and scary complex.