How was Thomas Jefferson elected president?

Answer 1

In the election of 1800-1801, the electoral college had mostly Republicans and each of them had two votes. Each of them cast one vote for Jefferson and one vote for Aaron Burr. The only problem was that Burr and Jefferson came up in a tie. Burr refused to back down (probably from a desire to be president himself instead of vice president.) Finally, the allowed the House of Representatives to vote and Hamilton used his influence to make them vote for Jefferson as he was less disliked than Burr. The problem was resolved by having separate elections for vice president and president.