CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (Couxx OF THE ELECTORAL VOTE.) 



211 



by the presiding officer except to either house on a 

 motion to withdraw. 



SEC. 6. That when the two houses separate to de- 

 cide upon an objection that may have been made to 

 the counting of any electoral vote or votes from any 

 State, or other question arising in the matter, each 

 Senator and Keprescntatiye may speak to such objec- 

 tion or question five minutes, and not more than 

 once' but after such debate shall have lasted two 

 hours it shall be the duty of the presiding officer of 

 each house to put the main question without further 

 de bate. 



SEC. 7. That at such joint meeting of the two houses 

 seats shall be provided' as follows : For the President 

 of the Senate, the Speaker's chair; for the Speaker, 

 immediately upon his left ; the Senators, in the body 

 of the hail upon the right of the presiding officer ; for 

 the Representatives, in the body of the hall not pro- 

 vided for the Senators ; for the tellers, Secretary of 

 the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representa- 

 tives, at the Clerk's de.sk; for the other officers of the 

 two houses, in front of the Clerk's desk and upon 

 each side of the Speaker's platform. Such joint meet- 

 ing shall not be dissolved until the count of electoral 

 voles shall be completed and the result declared ; and 

 no recess shall be taken unless a question shall have 

 arisen in regard to counting any such votes, or other- 

 wise under this act, in which case it shall be compe- 

 tent for either house, acting separately, in the manner 

 hereinbefore provided, to direct a recess of such house 

 not beyond the next calendar day, Sunday excepted, 

 at the hour of ten o'clock in the forenoon. But if the 

 counting of the electoral votes and the declaration of 

 the result shall not have been completed before the 

 fifth calendar day next after such first meeting of the 

 two houses, no further or other recess shall be taken 

 by either house. 



June 12th, in the House, Mr. Eaton, of Con- 

 necticut, reported the bill, moving to strike 

 out all after the enacting clause and insert the 

 following : 



That the electors of each State shall meet and give 

 their votes on the second Monday in December next 

 following their appointment, at such place in each 

 State as the Legislature of such State shall direct. 



SEO. 2. That it shall be the duty_ of the Executive 

 of each State to cause 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 soon as may be 

 after such determination shall be had, to the electors, 

 and before the day on which they are required by 

 law to meet. 



SEO. 3. That Congress shall be in session on the 

 Becond Tuesday in January succeeding every meeting 

 of the electors. The Senate and House of Represent- 

 atives shall meet in the hall of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives at the hour of one o'clock in the afternoon 

 on that day in joint convention ; and the President of 

 the Senate shall be the presiding officer of said joint 

 convention. Two tellers shall be previously ap- 

 pointed 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 bo 

 certificates of the electoral votes, wliich certificates 

 and papers shall be opened, presented, and acted upon 

 in the alphabetical order of the States, beginning with 

 the State of Alabama ; and said tellers, having then 

 read the same in the presence and hearing of the joint 

 convention, shall make a list of the votes as they shall 

 appear from the said certificates ; and the votes having 

 been ascertained and counted by the tellers, the result 

 shall be delivered to the presiding officer of the joint 

 convention, who shall thereupon announce the state 

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

 elected President and Vice- President of the United 

 States ; and said announcement, together with a list of 



the votes, shall be entered on the journals of the Sen- 

 ate and the House of Representatives ; and the presid- 

 ing officer of the joint convention shall, as soon as 

 may be, notify said persons of their election to said 

 offices of President and V ice-President ; and if upon 

 the call of a State no obiection is made to the return, 

 then the vote thereof shall be counted and added to 

 the list of States whose votes are determined ; but in 

 case objection has been made, as hereinafter provided, 

 then said return shall be laid aside, to be proceeded 

 with in the same manner as is hereinafter provided 

 for the case of a double return of votes from a State. 

 All objections to the counting of the vote of any State 

 shall be made in writing and signed by at least three 

 members of the joint convention, before the call of said 

 State, said objections to be placed in the hands of the 

 presiding officer of said joint convention, who shall 

 present the same upon the call of the State. If more 

 than one return or paper purporting to be a return 

 from a State shall have been received by the Presi- 

 dent of the Senate, then and in that case the presid- 

 ing officer of the joint convention shall submit to the 

 members thereof the determination as to which is the 



roper return ; and three hours shall be allowed for 

 ebate, and the joint convention shall then proceed 

 to vote per capita, commencing with the State of Ala- 

 bama ; . and those votes shall be counted and added 

 to the list of votes already ascertained which a major- 

 ity of the joint convention shall determine to have 

 been contained in the proper and legal return. 



SEC. 4. That sections 135 and 142 of the Revised 

 Statutes are hereby repealed. 



SEC. 5. That at such joint convention of the two 

 houses seats shall be provided as follows: For the 

 President of the Senate, the Speaker's chair; for the 

 Speaker, immediately upon his left ; the Senators t in 

 the body of the hall upon the right of the presiding 

 officer ;" for the Representatives, in the body of the 

 hall not provided tor 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 side of the Speaker's platform. Such 

 joint convention shall not be dissolved until the count 

 of the electoral votes shall be completed and the re- 

 sult declared ; and no recess shall be taken for a 

 longer time than one calendar day ; and upon the re- 

 assembling of the joint convention on the Saturday 

 after its first meeting, should the count and declara- 

 tion of votes not have previously been made and an- 

 nounced, no further or other recess shall be had until 

 the count of the electoral votes shall be completed and 

 the result declared. 



This substitute for the Senate measure was 

 adopted by the House by the following vote, 

 June 12: 



YEAS Aiken, Alexander, Arnot, Bagley, Ballen- 

 tine. Beach, Belford, Bennett, Blanchard, Bland, 

 Bovle, Breckinridge, Buchanan, Btidd, Cabell, Cald- 

 wcll, Felix Campbell, Candler, Carleton ?> Cassidy, 

 Clements, Cobb, Connolly, Cosgrove, Covington, 8. 

 S. Cox, Crisp, D. B. Culberson, Curtin, Dargan L. PI. 

 Davis, Dibble, Dibrell, Dorsheimer, Dowd, Dunn, 

 Eaton, Eldredge, Elliott, Ellis, English, Ermentrout, 

 Ferrell, Fincrty, Follelt, Foran, Glascock, Green, 

 Grcenlcaf, Halsell, Hammond, Hancock, Hardeman, 

 Hardy, W. H. Hatch, Hemphill, Henley, A. S. Hewitt, 

 Hoblitzell, Hopkins, Houseman, Hunt, B. W. Jones, 

 J. H. Jones, Jordan. Kleiner, Lanham, Lewis, Lore, 

 Lovering, Lowry, McAdoo, McMillin, Maybury, J. 

 F. Miller, Mills, Mitchell, Money, Morrison, Moul- 

 ton, Murphy, Murray, Mutchler, Neece, O'Ferrall, J. 

 J. O'Neill, Patton, Peei, Pierce, Post, Potter, Pryor, 

 Pusey, Randall, Rankin, Reese, Robertson, Rosecrans, 

 Seney, Seymour, Springs, Springer, Stevens, Charles 

 Stewart, S'torm, C. A.Sumner, f. M. Taylor, Thomp- 

 son, Tillman, Tully, Oscar Turner Van Alstyne. Van 

 Eaton, Wallace, Ward, Richard Warner. Wellborn, 

 Weller, Wcmple, Williams, Willis, W. 'L. Wilson, 



