In the World Cup, they play overtime, then rely on penalty kicks to settle ties.
asserted
they → play → ties
The National Hockey League plays a short overtime, followed by a shootout.
asserted
League → play → shootout
NHL games used to end in ties.
asserted
games → use → ties
In the playoffs, the teams keep going – until there’s a winner.
asserted
teams → keep → playoffs
In the 2020 playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning finally topped the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 after a staggering five overtimes.
asserted
Lightning → top → overtimes
They played nearly THREE total games.
asserted
They → play → games
That’s the equivalent of 26 innings in baseball.
asserted
That → ’ → baseball
Speaking of Major League Baseball, teams play extra innings.
asserted
teams → speak → innings
And keep playing until one team is ahead and the home team has completed an at-bat in the bottom of the inning.
asserted
team → keep → inning
MLB modified its rules a few years ago, introducing a "ghost runner" on second base to start the 10th inning.
asserted
MLB → modify → inning
That’s an effort to end the tie and finish the game sooner.
asserted
That → ’ → game
In the case of a tie roll call vote, the vice president — who doubles as president of the Senate – can vote to break a tie vote.
asserted
who → double → vote
In fact, the VP doesn’t even have to cast a ballot if it’s a tie and the roll call vote is going the way he or she wants.
asserted
he → have → ballot
By rule, tie votes go down to defeat in the Senate.
asserted
votes → go → Senate
But what if we wake up Wednesday morning (if not Friday or Saturday morning or sometime in early December, depending on how hotly contested things are) to discover that the Senate is tied at 50-50?
asserted
Senate → wake → 50
There is nothing in the Senate’s 44 standing rules which serves as a tiebreaker.
asserted
which → be → tiebreaker
The Founders didn’t provide a system to bust up a tie and determine which side is in the majority or minority.
asserted
side → provide → majority
And no, it’s not written down anywhere that the party of the President is automatically thrust into the majority.
asserted
party → write → majority
There’s nothing concrete to sort out which party controls the Senate if things are deadlocked at 50-50.
asserted
things → ’ → 50
The Senate was also tied for a period in 1954.
asserted
Senate → tie → 1954
Nearly ten percent of all senators died during the two-year Congress which stretched from early 1953 to early 1955.
asserted
which → die → 1955
However, the Senate featured two ties in recent Senate history.
asserted
Senate → feature → history
Both instances reflect what the Senate did to sort out which party captured the majority.
asserted
party → reflect → majority
One tie came after the 2000 election.
asserted
tie → come → election
Both elections took a while to sort things out.
asserted
elections → take → things
In 2026, Alaska, we’re looking at you.
asserted
we → look → you
It took until early December, 2000 to determine that Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., defeated then-Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., establishing a 50-50 Senate.
asserted
Cantwell → take → Senate
In fact, the tie for the Senate from the 2020 election wasn’t even established until two days into the new Congress on January 6, 2021.
asserted
tie → establish → January
Sens. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., both won runoffs to set the 50-50 split.
asserted
Ossoff → win → split
In early December, 2000, the Supreme Court finally settled the Florida election dispute between President George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore.
asserted
Court → settle → Bush
Republicans had held the Senate.
asserted
Republicans → hold → Senate
But then Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., engineered a power-sharing agreement between the parties.
asserted
Lott → engineer → parties
This aligned with the election of Vice President Dick Cheney.
asserted
This → align → Cheney
Lott would serve as the Majority Leader and the GOP technically had the "majority."
asserted
GOP → serve → majority
But the bipartisan pact granted Daschle some special floor powers.
asserted
pact → grant → powers
Republicans chaired each committee.
asserted
Republicans → chair → committee
The full Senate had to ratify this agreement.
asserted
Senate → have → agreement
And it did just that.
asserted
it → do → that
Such a process is subject to two filibusters requiring 60 yeas.
asserted
process → require → yeas
One to bring up the proposal for debate.
asserted
One → bring → debate
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
