<P> In the U.S. presidential election system, instead of the nationwide popular vote determining the outcome of the election, the President of the United States is determined by votes cast by electors of the Electoral College . Alternatively, if no candidate receives an absolute majority of electoral votes, the election is determined by the House of Representatives . These procedures are governed by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution . </P> <P> When individuals cast ballots in the general election, they are choosing electors and telling them whom they should vote for in the Electoral College . The "national popular vote" is the sum of all the votes cast in the general election, nationwide . The presidential elections of 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016 produced an Electoral College winner who did not receive the most votes in the general election . In 1824, there were six states in which electors were legislatively appointed, rather than popularly elected, so the true national popular vote is uncertain . When no candidate received a majority of electoral votes in 1824, the election was decided by the House of Representatives . For these two reasons, the 1824 election is distinguishable from the latter four elections, which were held after all states had instituted the popular selection of electors, and in each of which a single candidate won an outright majority of electoral votes, thus becoming president without a contingent election in the House of Representatives . The true national popular vote total was also uncertain in the 1960 election, and the plurality winner depends on how votes for Alabama electors are allocated . </P> <P> The 1824 presidential election was the first election in American history in which the popular vote mattered, as 18 states chose presidential electors by popular vote in 1824 (six states still left the choice up to their state legislatures). When the final votes were tallied in those 18 states, Andrew Jackson polled 152,901 popular votes to John Quincy Adams's 114,023; Henry Clay won 47,217, and William H. Crawford won 46,979 . The electoral college returns, however, gave Jackson only 99 votes, 32 fewer than he needed for a majority of the total votes cast . Adams won 84 electoral votes followed by 41 for Crawford, and 37 for Clay . All four candidates in the election identified with the Democratic - Republican Party . </P> <P> As no candidate secured the required number of votes (131 total) from the Electoral College, the election was decided by the House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution . Only the top three candidates in the electoral vote were admitted as candidates in this contingent election . Henry Clay, as the candidate with the fewest electoral votes, was eliminated from the deliberation . As Speaker of the House, however, Clay was still the most important player in determining the outcome of the election . The election was held on February 9, 1825, with each state having one vote, as determined by the wishes of the majority of each state's congressional representatives . Adams emerged as the winner with a one - vote margin of victory . Most of Clay's supporters, joined by several old Federalists, switched their votes to Adams in enough states to give him the election . Soon after his inauguration as President, Adams appointed Henry Clay as his secretary of state . This result became a source of great bitterness for Jackson and his supporters, who proclaimed the election of Adams a "corrupt bargain," and were inspired to create the Democratic Party . </P>

When did the electoral college override the popular vote