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[Constitution of the United States of America:  Analysis, and Interpretation - 1992 Edition ]
[Amendments to the Constitution]
[Twelfth Amendment - Election of President]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

[[Page 1547]]

 
                            TWELFTH AMENDMENT

                               __________
 
                          ELECTION OF PRESIDENT

  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 Vice-President, 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

[[Page 1548]]
Vice-President shall act as President, 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 Vice-President of the United States.

                          ELECTION OF PRESIDENT

        This Amendment,\1\ which supersedes clause 3 of Sec. 1 of 
Article II, was adopted so as to make impossible the situation occurring 
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 which it defines and 
that which was laid down originally is in the provision it makes 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 has 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. Sec. 15.
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