Who wins a state's electoral votes in the event of a tie?

[Virginiá]

Why not count every state every time several times then? It was very stupid to do.

There were actual issues that justified a recount. In that given case, I can't see how anyone wouldn't want to know who actually got x amount of votes, and this election was what first got me thinking about politics, even if it did take many years to become a significant interest.

Just couldn't understand how they could halt a recount in a very close election where there were obvious issues during voting. It's not like we were electing a city council member. This was for POTUS damn it.

[Virginiá]

The race was a statistical tie, and another recount from scratch could just as likely to swing the race back as to keep the official recount result. The effect of the court picking the count that it did was effectively a coin flip from a statistician's viewpoint.

If that is indeed what would have happened every time it was recounted, then a literal coin flip doesn't sound like such a bad idea. After all, if it's a statistical tie like that, why should Bush win the state if it could also go to Gore upon a recount? If it is so close that they can't really figure out who won due to bad voting records, then a random way of picking the winner sounds better than a conservative Supreme Court majority picking the conservative candidate as the winner.