These 3 Presidential Elections Also Went Into Overtime. Here’s How They Were Resolved.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden will have to get in line for bragging rights. This fall’s presidential election, the results of which the Trump campaign continues to challenge in key battleground states, is hardly the first national election that went into overtime. 

As I examined in my book “Tainted by Suspicion: The Secret Deals and Electoral Chaos of Disputed Presidential Elections,” American history has logged four other times when a presidential election was litigated, through courts or Congress, long after Election Day. 

In 2000, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore engaged in a 36-day struggle over the election results.

That was short compared to 1876, when Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden continued to clash from November to March of 1877 before the election was settled—on the cusp of what was then Inauguration Day for the president. 

The 1824 contest, with multiple candidates and one party, came down to John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson and it wasn’t decided in the House of Representatives until February 1825. 

The situation in 1800 was different, though. Presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson and his vice presidential running mate, Aaron Burr, got the same number of electoral votes for president. The House settled the matter after 36 votes, giving the presidency to Jefferson, and the 12th Amendment to the Constitution later prevented a recurrence. 

Here are adapted excerpts from “Tainted by Suspicion” explaining how the other three presidential elections were settled. 

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