What happens if no candidate receives at least 270 votes from the electoral college? conduct research of secondary sources to assist you. remember: primary sources are texts written by people who experienced events or artifacts from the era. secondary sources are provided by authors who conducted research, but were not from the era themselves. having a balance of primary and secondary sources to create a balanced view of history. whenever you rely on information that you have found through research, you must cite where the information came from. history generally follows the apa style of citation. the constitution states that a new election must be organized and the process start over. the president becomes the candidate with the highest popular vote, as determined by the founding fathers. the state legislatures convene to select the president and vice president. the house of representatives elects the president and the senate elects the vice president.