Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-11-20
THE MANNER OF ELECTINa
THE PREsIDENT AND VICE
pREsIDENT. III

II thoroughly uuuetstoou.. Ahe 0oA
tuition provides for the appointment in
each State, in such manner a. the Leg
i~slature thereof may direct, Of q number
Of Electors, equal to the whole number
Of Representatives and Senators to
which the State may be entitled IT. Con-
press. 1t then provides that said Elee-
tors shall shall meet in their respective
States and vote by ballot for President
and Vice President. It 10 these meet
ings of the Electors in their respective
States that are called Electoral Col
lsges. At these meetings the Electors
are required to make lists Of the per-
sons they vote for, and the number Of
votes cast for each, which lists they are
required to sign and certify, and trans
nit sealed to the President Of the. SEN
ate Of the United States, at the seat Of
Government. That officer 10 required
to open these certificates in tho presence
Of the Senate and the House Of Repre-
sentatives, and the votes are then to be
counted, the person having the greatest
number of Electoral votes for President,
if such number be q majority Of the
Electors appointed, is declared to be
the President and so Of the Vice
President.
These provisions Of the Constitution
being general in their character, re-
quired, like nearly all others, some leg
i,lation-to provide for the details. In
the first place, it was necessary for each
State to decide In what manner the
Electors for that State should be cap
pointed" The mode adopted by the
Legislatures of all the States, before
the rebellion, except South Carolids,
was to appoint" the Electors BY pop
ular election. South Carolina decided
to appoint them by the Legislature.
Then it was necessary for Congress to
provide for the time Of holding the cleo.
ton, the manner in which the lists Of
Electors chosen should be certified, the
time when the Electors should meet in
their respective States, the time when
the certified lists Of tho votes cast By
the Electors should be SEN to the seat
Of Government, and the time when Con-
gross should be in session to open and
count the electoral votes. All these de-
tails were provided for in the Act Of
Congress of March l, 1892. At first,
the time for holding the popular election
was limited only to the "~thirty-four
days preceding the first Wednesday in
December, l7s2," and within the same
period in every fourth year thereafter.
But as this led to the holding Of Presi-
Dental elections on different days in
different States, Congress, in ls45,
established q uniform time" for hold
ing such elections, viz {: " the Tuesday
next after the first Monday in Govem-
ber'' in the Presidential year. The Act
Of 1892 requires the Executive authority
Of each State to cause three certified
lists Of the Electors chosen by said
State, to ba made out and delivered to
the Electors on or before the first We'd
nesday of December next after the cleo
ton ; and that said Electors shall meet
and give their votes on the said FIRST
| Wednesday in December, at such place
as tho Legislature of the State shall
direct.
The Electors vote by ballot, and the
Act of 1892 requires them to make three
certified lists, which shall be signed by
all tho Electors, with q certified list Of
the Electors attached to each. These
are then to be sealed up in three sspa-
rate packages, and a further certificate
endorsed on the envelope of each,
signed BY all the Electors, stating that
the package contains a list of the votes
Of such State for President and Vice
President. The Electors are then re-
CURED to appoint and commission a
person to take charge Of and deliver one
of the said certified packages to the
President of the Senate At the seat OF
| Government, on or before the first
Wednesday in January, next ensuing;
they are further required to forthwith
forward another Of said certificates BY
the Postofice to the President OF tho
Senate, and the third is to be delivered
to the Judge Of the District in which
the Electors arc assembled. These and
other minute provisions are made to
guard agsins. the possible loss or failure
Of q certificate. In order to have GER
tainty as to the counting Of the votes 80
forwarded, Congress is required to be in
session on tho second Wednesday Of
February succeeding every meeting Of
the Electors, on which day the certin-
Gates are to DO opened in the presence
of both Houses and the result declared
As already stated. 1t will thus be soon
that while the people vote for Electors
on the Tuesday after the first Monday in
November, it is necessary, in order to
complete their work, that the Electors
shall meet aud vote at the State Capital
on the FIRST Wednesday in December,
send their votes to the President Of the
Senate by tho frat Wednesday in jan
sry, and that Congress shall count the
votes and declare the result on the
second Wednesday in February.
IxpRoyISG HoRsl FlED.-The Esser
Banner asserts that small quantities Of