ELECTION OF PRESIDENT

TWELFTH AMENDMENT

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 of 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 VicePresident, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted

for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President,

and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign

and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the 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 Representatives, open all the certificates and the

votes shall then be counted;—The person having the greatest

number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such

number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list

of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives

shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President, the votes shall

be taken by states, the representation from each state having

one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member

or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all

the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of

Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right

of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March

next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President,

1801
as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of

the President.—The person having the greatest number of votes

as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number

be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if

no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers

on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be

necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible

to the office of President shall be eligible to that of VicePresident of the United States.

ELECTION OF PRESIDENT

This Amendment,1 which supersedes Article II, § 1, clause 3, was

adopted so as to make impossible the situation that occurred after

the election of 1800 in which Jefferson and Burr received tie votes

in the electoral college, thus throwing the selection of a President

into the House of Representatives, despite the fact that the electors had intended Jefferson to be President and Burr to be Vice President.2 The difference between the procedure that the Amendment

defines and the original is in its providing for a separate designation by the electors of their choices for President and Vice President, respectively. As a consequence of the disputed election of 1870,

Congress enacted a statute providing that if the vote of a state is

not certified by the governor under seal, it shall not be counted unless both Houses of Congress concur.3

1 A number of provisions of the Amendment have been superseded by the Twentieth Amendment.

2 Cunningham, Election of 1800, in 1 HISTORY OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

101 (A. Schlesinger ed., 1971).

3 3 U.S.C. § 15.

1802 AMENDMENT 12—ELECTION OF PRESIDENT