CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



159 



nary next succeeding the meeting of the eleo- 

 "f l'iv-ident and Vice-Presidest of the 

 United Stairs, and the President of the Senate 

 sh:ill lie tlieir presiding officer; one teller shall 

 IK- appointed on the part of the Senate, and 

 two on the part of the House of Representa- 

 , to whom shall be handed, as they are 

 opened by the President of the Senate, the 

 certificates of the electoral votes; and the tell- 

 ers, having read the same in the presence and 

 hearing of the two Houses then assembled, 

 shall make a list of the votes as they shall ap- 

 pear from the certificates ; and the votes hav- 

 ing been counted, the result of the same shall 

 be delivered to the President of the Senate, 

 who shall thereupon announce the state of the 

 vote, and the names of the persons, if any, 

 elected, which announcement shall be deemed 

 a sufficient declaration of the persons elected 

 President and Vice-President of the United 

 States, and, together with a list of the votes, 

 b3 entered on the Journals of the two Houses. 

 If, upon the reading of any certificate by the 

 t.'llers, any question shall arise in regard to 

 counting the votes therein certified, the same 

 having bean stated by the presiding officer, 

 tha Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and the 

 question shall be submitted to the body for its 

 decision ; and the Speaker of the House of 

 Representatives shall, in like manner, submit 

 the question to the House of Representatives 

 for its decision ; and no electoral vote or votes 

 from any State, to the counting of which ob- 

 jections have been made, shall be rejected ex- 

 cept by the affirmative vote of the two Houses. 

 When the two Houses have voted, they shall 

 immediately reassemble, and the presiding offi- 

 cer shall then announce the decision of the 

 question submitted. And any other question 

 pertinent to the object for which the two 

 Houses are assembled may be submitted and 

 determined in like manner. 



The second section provides that if more 

 than one return shall be received by the Presi- 

 dent of the Senate from a State, purporting to 

 be the certificates of electoral votes given at 

 the last preceding election for President and 

 Vice-President in such State, all such returns 

 shall be opened by him in the presence of the 

 two Houses when assembled to count the votes ; 

 and that return from such State shall be count- 

 oil which the two Houses, acting separately, 

 shall decide to be the true and valid return. 



By the third section it is provided that 

 when the two Houses separate to decide upon 

 an objection that may have been made to the 

 counting of any electoral vote or votes from 

 any State, or for the decision of any other ques- 

 tion pertinent thereto, each Senator and Rep- 

 resentative may speak to such objection or 

 question ten minutes, and not oftener than 

 once; but after such debate has lasted two 

 hours, it shall bo in the power of a majority of 

 each House to direct that the main question 

 shall bo put without further debate. 



Section 4 declares that, at such joint meet- 



ing of the two Houses, seats shall be provided 

 as follows : For the President of the Senate, 



the Speaker's chair ; for the Speaker, imme- 

 diately upon his loft; the Senators iu the Ixxly 

 of the Hall upon the right of the presiding 

 officer ; for the Representatives, in the body 

 of the Hall not provided for the Senators ; for 

 the tellers, Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk 

 of the House of Representatives, at the Clerk's 

 desk ; for the other officers of the two Houses, 

 in front of the Clerk's desk and upon each -idi- 

 ot' the Speaker's platform. The joint meeting 

 shall not be dissolved until the electoral votes 

 are all counted and the result declared ; and 

 no recess shall be taken unless a question shall 

 have arisen in regard to counting any such 

 votes, in which case it shall be competent for 

 either House, acting separately, in the manner 

 hereinbefore provided, to direct a recess not 

 beyond the next day at the hcur of ten o'clock 

 in the forenoon. 



Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, said : " I have felt 

 long that which I apprehend the honorable 

 Senator from Indiana has felt, some degree of 

 embarrassment in regard to the measure of 

 power committed to Congress over the count- 

 ing, accepting or rejecting of the electoral 

 votes of the electors of the various States. The 

 letter of the Constitution on this subject is very 

 meagre. In the second article of the original 

 Constitution it was provided that ' each State 

 shall appoint, in such manner as the Legisla- 

 ture thereof may direct, a number of electors 

 equal to the whole number of Senators and 

 Representatives to which the State may be en- 

 titled in Congress ; ' and then proceeds to ex- 

 clude Senators or Representatives or persons 

 holding an office of trust or profit from the 

 office of elector. Then follows in the original 

 Constitution a provision for the meeting of the 

 electors, which has been superseded and an- 

 nulled by the twelfth amendment of the Con- 

 stitution. Then follows a paragraph author- 

 izing Congress in its discretion to determine 

 the time of choosing the electors and the day 

 on which they shall give their votes, and de- 

 claring that that day shall be the same day 

 throughout the United States. 



"The twelfth article of amendments, super- 

 seding a portion of the third paragraph of the 

 second article, provided that 



The electors shall meet in their respective States 

 and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President ? 

 one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant ot 

 the same State with themselves ; they shall name in 

 their ballots the person voted for as President, and 

 in distinct ballots the person voted for as Yii-o- 

 President, and they shall make distinct lists of all 

 persons voted for as President, and of all person* 

 voted for as Vice-President, and of the number ol 

 votes for each ; which lists they shall sign and cer 1 

 tify, and transmit sealed to the seat of Government 

 of the United States, directed to the President of 

 the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in 

 the presence of the Senate and House of Representa- 

 tives, open all the certificates and the votes shall 

 then be counted. 



" This latter clause contains all the power 



