210 ' CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (COUNT OF THE ELECTORAL VOTE.) 



any capacity in the military, naval, or civil service of 

 the so-called Confederate 'States, or of either of the 

 States in insurrection during the late rebellion, shall 

 be appointed to any position in the Army or Navy of 

 the United States." 



SEC. 2. That section 1756 of the Revised Statutes 

 be and the same is hereby repealed; and hereafter 

 the oath to be taken by any person elected or ap- 

 pointed to any office of honor or profit, either in the 

 civil, military, or naval service, except the President 

 of the United States, shall be as prescribed in section 

 1757 of the Revised Statutes. But this repeal shall 

 not affect the oaths prescribed by_ existing statutes in 

 relation to the performance of duties in special or par- 

 ticular subordinate offices and employments. 



SEC. 3. That the provisions of this act shall in no 

 manner affect any right, duty, claim, obligation, or 

 penalty now existing, or already incurred; and all 

 and every such right, duty, claim, obligation, and 

 penalty shall be heard, tried, and determined, and ef- 

 fect shall be given thereto, in the same manner as if 

 this act had not been passed. 



SEC. 4. That section 820 of the Revised Statutes, 

 imposing certain disqualifications on grand and petit 

 jurors in the courts of the United States, and section 

 821 of the Revised Statutes, prescribing an oath for 



rand and petit jurors in the courts of the United 

 tates, be and the same are hereby repealed. 



The measure as amended passed without a 

 division, and the title of the bill was changed 

 so as to read "An act amending the Kevised 

 Statutes of the United States, in respect to 

 official oaths, and for other purposes." May 

 7, the House concurred in the Senate amend- 

 ments; and, May 14-, the bill was returned with 

 the approval of the President. 



Count of the Electoral Vote. The Senate took 

 up this important matter Jan. 16, 1884, and 

 the bill reported by Mr. Hoar, of Massachusetts, 

 from the Committee on Privileges and Elections, 

 was passed without a division. It is the bill that 

 was passed by the Senate in the first session of 

 the Forty-seventh Congress, and is entitled " A 

 bill to fix the day for the meeting of the elect- 

 ors of President and Vice-President, and to 

 provide for and regulate the counting of the 

 votes for President and Vice-President, and 

 the decision of the questions arising thereon " : 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of^ Represent- 

 atives of the United States of America in vongress 

 assembled, That the electors of each State shall meet 

 and give their votes on the second Monday in January 

 next following their appointment, at such place in 

 each State as the Legislature of such State shall 

 direct. 



SKC. 2. That each State may, pursuant to its laws 

 existing on the day fixed for the appointment of the 

 electors, try and determine, at least six days before 

 the time fixed for the meeting of the electors, any 

 controversy concerning their appointment or the ap- 

 pointment of any of them. Every such determination 

 made pursuant to such law so existing on said day, 

 and made at least six davs prior to the said time of 

 the meeting of electors, shall be conclusive evidence 

 of the lawful title to office of the electors who shall 

 have been so determined to have been appointed, 

 and shall govern in the counting of the electoral votes 

 as provided in the Constitution, and as hereinafter 

 regulated. 



SKC. -3. That it shall be the duty of the Executive of 

 each State to cau-e three lists of the names of the 

 electors of such State, duly ascertained according to 

 the law of the State to have been chosen, to be made 

 and certified, and to be delivered, as socn as may be 

 alter such final determination shall be had, to tho 



electors, and before the day on which they are re- 

 quired by law to meet. 



SEC. 4. That Congress shall be in session on the 

 second Wednesday in February succeeding every 

 meeting of the electors. The Senate and House o'f 

 Representatives shall meet in the hall of the House 

 of Representatives at the hour of one o'clock in the 

 afternoon on that day, and the President of the Senate 

 shall be their presiding officer. Two tellers shall be 

 previously appointed on the part of the Senate and 

 two on the part of the House of Representatives, to 

 whom shall be handed, as they arc opened by the 

 President of the Senate, all the certificates and papers 

 purporting to be certificates of the electoral votes, 

 which certificates and papers shall be opened, pre- 

 sented, and acted upon in the alphabetical order of 

 the States, beginning with the letter A ; and said 

 tellers, having then read the same in the presence and 

 hearing of tlie two Houses, shall make a list of tho 

 votes as they shall appear from the said certificates ; 

 and the votes having been ascertained and counted in 

 the manner and according to the rules in this act pro- 

 vided, the result of the same shall be delivered to the 

 President of the Senate, who shall thereupon an- 

 nounce 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, if any. 

 elected President and Vice-President of the United 

 States, and, together with a list of the votes, be en- 

 tered on the journals of the two houses. Upon such 

 reading of any such certificate or paper, the President 

 of the "Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every 

 objection shall be made in writing, and shall state 

 clearly and concisely, and without argument, the 

 ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one 

 Senator and one member of the House of Representa- 

 tives before the same shall be received. When all ob- 

 jections so made to any vote or paper from a State 

 shall have been received and read, the Senate shall 

 thereupon withdraw, and such objections shall be 

 submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the 

 Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like 

 manner, submit such objections to the House of Rep- 

 resentatives for its decision ; and no electoral vote or 

 votes from any State from which but one return has 

 been received shall be rejected except by the affirma- 

 tive votes of both houses. If more than one return 

 or paper purporting to be a return from a State shall 

 have been received by the President of the Senate, 

 those votes, and those onlyj shall be counted which 

 shall have been regularly given by the electors who 

 are shown by the evidence mentioned in section 2 of 

 this act to have been appointed, if the determination 

 in said section provided for shall have been madej 

 but in case there shall arise the question which of two 

 or more of such State tribunals determining what 

 electors have been appointed, as mentioned in section 

 2 of this act, is the lawful tribunal of such State, the 

 votes regularly given of those electors, and those only, 

 of such "State 'shall be counted whose title as electors 

 the two houses, acting separately, shall concurrently 

 decide is supported by the decision of the tribunal of 

 such State so authorized by its laws. And in such 

 case of more than one return or paper purporting to 

 be a return from a State, if there shall have been no 

 such determination of the question in the State afore- 

 said, then those votes, and those only, shall be counted 

 which the two houses, acting separately, shall concur- 

 rently decide to be the lawful votes of the legally ap- 

 pointed electors of such State. When the two houses 

 have voted, they shall immediately again meet, and 

 the presiding officer shall then announce the decision 

 of the question submitted. No votes or papers from 

 any other State shall be acted upon until the objec- 

 tions previously made to the votes or papers from any 

 State shall have been finally disposed of. 



SEC. 5. That while the two houses shall be in meet- 

 ing as provided in this act, the President of the Sen- 

 ate shall have power to preserve order ; and no de- 

 bate shall be allowed and no question shall be put 



