§ 12 TITLE 3—THE PRESIDENT Page 4

(June 25, 1948, ch. 644, 62 Stat. 674; Oct. 31, 1951,

ch. 655, §7, 65 Stat. 712; Pub. L. 98–497, title I,

§107(e)(1), Oct. 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2291.)

AMENDMENTS

1984—Pub. L. 98–497 substituted ‘‘Archivist of the

United States’’ for ‘‘Administrator of General Services’’ two places in par. ‘‘Third’’.

1951—Act Oct. 31, 1951, substituted ‘‘Administrator of

General Services’’ for ‘‘Secretary of State’’ two places

in par. ‘‘Third’’.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1984 AMENDMENT

Amendment by Pub. L. 98–497 effective Apr. 1, 1985,

see section 301 of Pub. L. 98–497, set out as a note under

section 2102 of Title 44, Public Printing and Documents.

SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This section is referred to in section 12 of this title.

§ 12. Failure of certificates of electors to reach

President of the Senate or Archivist of the

United States; demand on State for certificate

When no certificate of vote and list mentioned

in sections 9 and 11 of this title from any State

shall have been received by the President of the

Senate or by the Archivist of the United States

by the fourth Wednesday in December, after the

meeting of the electors shall have been held, the

President of the Senate or, if he be absent from

the seat of government, the Archivist of the

United States shall request, by the most expeditious method available, the secretary of state of

the State to send up the certificate and list

lodged with him by the electors of such State;

and it shall be his duty upon receipt of such request immediately to transmit same by registered mail to the President of the Senate at

the seat of government.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 644, 62 Stat. 674; Oct. 31, 1951,

ch. 655, §8, 65 Stat. 712; Pub. L. 98–497, title I,

§107(e)(1), (2)(B), Oct. 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2291.)

AMENDMENTS

1984—Pub. L. 98–497 substituted ‘‘Archivist of the

United States’’ for ‘‘Administrator of General Services’’ in section catchline and two places in text.

1951—Act Oct. 31, 1951, substituted ‘‘Administrator of

General Services’’ for ‘‘Secretary of State’’ in section

catchline and two places in text.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1984 AMENDMENT

Amendment by Pub. L. 98–497 effective Apr. 1, 1985,

see section 301 of Pub. L. 98–497, set out as a note under

section 2102 of Title 44, Public Printing and Documents.

§ 13. Same; demand on district judge for certificate

When no certificates of votes from any State

shall have been received at the seat of government on the fourth Wednesday in December,

after the meeting of the electors shall have been

held, the President of the Senate or, if he be absent from the seat of government, the Archivist

of the United States shall send a special messenger to the district judge in whose custody

one certificate of votes from that State has been

lodged, and such judge shall forthwith transmit

that list by the hand of such messenger to the

seat of government.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 644, 62 Stat. 674; Oct. 31, 1951,

ch. 655, §9, 65 Stat. 712; Pub. L. 98–497, title I,

§107(e)(1), Oct. 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2291.)

AMENDMENTS

1984—Pub. L. 98–497 substituted ‘‘Archivist of the

United States’’ for ‘‘Administrator of General Services’’.

1951—Act Oct. 31, 1951, substituted ‘‘Administrator of

General Services’’ for ‘‘Secretary of State’’.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1984 AMENDMENT

Amendment by Pub. L. 98–497 effective Apr. 1, 1985,

see section 301 of Pub. L. 98–497, set out as a note under

section 2102 of Title 44, Public Printing and Documents.

SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This section is referred to in section 14 of this title.

§ 14. Forfeiture for messenger’s neglect of duty

Every person who, having been appointed, pursuant to section 13 of this title, to deliver the

certificates of the votes of the electors to the

President of the Senate, and having accepted

such appointment, shall neglect to perform the

services required from him, shall forfeit the sum

of $1,000.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 644, 62 Stat. 675.)

§ 15. Counting electoral votes in Congress

Congress shall be in session on the sixth day of

January 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 1 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

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, presented, 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 the two Houses, shall make

a list of the votes as they shall appear from the

said certificates; and the votes having been ascertained and counted according to the rules in

this subchapter provided, the result of the same

shall be delivered to the President of the Senate,

who shall thereupon announce the state of the

vote, 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 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 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