CONGRESS. (COUNTING THE ELECTORAL VOTES.) 



165 



ing days of the Congress as at present organized, its 

 ability and inclination to so meet the people's needs 

 that it shall be gratefully remembered by an expect- 

 ant constituency. GROVEK CLEVELAND. 

 WASHINGTON, December 6, 1886. 



Counting the Electoral Votes. March 17, 1880, 

 a bill to fix the day for the meeting of the 

 electors 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 questions arising thereon, passed 

 the Senate. December 7, the measure was re- 

 ported with certain amendments to the House 

 from a select committee to consider the subject. 

 The following is the bill as reported, with the 

 passages stricken out inclosed in brackets and 

 those inserted printed in italics : 



Be it enacted, etc., 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. 



SEC. 2. That if any State shall have provided, by 

 laws enacted prior to the day fixed for the appoint- 

 ment of the electors, for its final determination of any 

 controversy or contest concerning the appointment of 

 all or any of the electors of such State, by judicial or 

 other methods or procedures, and such determination 

 shall have been made at least six days before the time 

 fixed for the meeting of the electors, such determina- 

 tion made pursuant to such law so existing on said 

 day, and made at least six days prior to the said time 

 of meeting of the electors, shall be conclusive, and 

 shall govern in the counting of the electoral votes as 

 provided in the Constitution, and as hereinafter regu- 

 lated, so far as the ascertainment of the electors ap- 

 pointed by such State is concerned. 



SEC. 3. That it shall be the duty of the Executive of 

 each State, as soon as practicable after the conclusion 

 of the appointment of electors in such State, by the 

 final ascertainment under and in pursuance of the 

 laws of such State providing for sucn ascertainment, 

 to communicate, under the seal of the State, to the 

 Secretary of State of the United States, a certificate of 

 such ascertainment of the electors appointed, setting 

 forth the names of such electors and the canvass or 

 other ascertainment under the laws of such State of 

 the number of votes given or cast for each person for 

 whose appointment an v and all votes have been given 

 or cast j and it shall also thereupon be the duty of the 

 Executive of each State to deliver to the electors of 

 such State, on or before the day on which they are 

 required by the preceding section to meet, the same 

 certificate, in triplicate, under the seal of the State : 

 and such certificate shall be inclosed and transmitted 

 by the electors at the same time and in the same man- 

 ner as is provided by law for transmitting by such 

 electors to the seat of Government the lists of all per- 

 sons voted for us President and of all persons voted 

 for as Vice-President ; and section 136 of the Kovised 

 Statutes is hereby repealed ; and if there shall have 

 been any final determination in a State of a contro- 

 versy or contest as provided for in section 2 of this 

 act, it shall be the duty of the Executive of such State, 

 as soon as practicable after such determination, to 

 communicate, under the seal of the State, to the Sec- 

 retary of State of the United States, a certificate of 

 such determination, in form and manner as the same 

 shall have been made ; and the Secretary of State of 

 the United States, as soon as practicable after the 

 receipt at the State Department of each of the certifi- 

 cates herein tafore directed to be transmitted to the 

 Secretary of State, shall publish, in such public news- 

 paper as he shall designate, such certificates in full : 

 and at the first meeting of Congress thereafter he shall 

 transmit to the two Houses of Congress copies in full 



of each and every such certificate so received thereto- 

 fore at the State Department. 



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

 second Wednesday in February succeeding every 

 meeting of the electors. The Senate and House of 

 Representatives shall meet in the hall of the House of 

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

 noon 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 Kepresentatives, to 

 whom shall be handed, as they are 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 iipon 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 the two Houses, shall make a list of 

 the votes as they shall appear from the said certifi- 

 cates ; and the votes having been ascertained and 

 counted in the manner and according to the rules in 

 this act provided, the result of the same shall be de- 

 livered to the President of the Senate, who shall there- 

 upon 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, 

 if any, elected President and Vice-President of the 

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

 be entered on the journals of the two Houses. Upon 

 such reading of any such certificate or paper, the 

 President ot the Senate shall call for objections, if 

 any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and 

 shall state clearly and concisely, and without argu- 

 ment, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at 

 least one Senator and one member of the House of 

 Representatives before the same shall be received. 

 When all objections 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 

 Representatives for its decision ; and no electoral vote 

 or votes from any State from which but one lawful 

 return has been received shall be rejected [except by 

 the affirmative vote 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 only, shall be 

 counted which shall have been regularly given by 

 the electors who are shown by the determination 

 mentioned in section 2 of this act to have been 

 appointed, if the determination in said section 

 provided for shall have been made, or by such suc- 

 cessors or substitutes, in case of a vacancy in the 

 board of electors so ascertained, as have ocen ao- 

 pointcd to fill such vacancy in the mode provided by 

 the laws of the State ; but in case there shall arise the 

 question which of two or more of such State authori- 

 ties 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 sucn State shall < be 

 counted whose title as electors the two Houses, acting 

 separately, shall concurrently decide is supported by 

 the decision 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 aforesaid, then those votes, and those only, 

 shall be counted which [the two Houses, acting sepa- 

 rately, shall concurrently decide to be the lawful votes 

 of the legally appointed electors of such State] were 

 cast by electors ivhose appointment shall have been duly 

 certified under the seal of the State by the Executive 

 thereof, in accordance with the laws of the State, un- 

 less the two Houses, acting separately, shall concur- 

 rently decide such i-otes not to be the lawful vot< x j 

 the legally appointed electors of such State. When 



