Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-11-22
THE ELECTORAL VOTE.

THE ELECTORAL VOTE.
The Method Of Counting tt
Meetin9 Of the Several Elector
al Colleges-The Counting o
the Vote by Congress-Prece
dents for Throwing Out theVote
ofa 6tate-The President Of the
Senate's Power.
From the New York Tribune
The extreme doubt In which tn,
returns received yesterday left the
result of the Presidential election ha
made the counting of the elcctora
vote in February next likely to be al
event Of great interest and import
ance. On more than one occasion thu
defects of the machinery for deter
mining which of two or more candi
dates has been legally elected to Tho
Presidency have been strikingly
shown, and attempts have been made
to rcmedy them !; but while none o.
these efforts have met with success, Il
has also been fortunate that on no oc
casion which has ever arisen has The
actual result been affected by the vote
of any State which forwarded it
vote and the validity Of whose re-
turns has been questioned. Now i
seems possible that such contingen.
cy may arise.
| No provision has ever been made
for settling dispute of this kind.
Section l, Article H., of the Constitu-
tion, directs that "each Slate shall ap.
point, in such manner as the Legisla.
ture thereof may direct, number Of
electors equal to the whole number Of
Senators and Representatives to which
the State may be entitled in the Con.
gress but no Senator or Representa-.
tive, or person holding an Office OF
trust or profit under the United
States, shall be appointed an elec.
tor"
The Twelfth Amendment of the
Constitution provides that the cleo.
tors "meet in their respective States,
and vote by. ballot for President and
Vice President, one Of whom shall
not be an inhabitant Of the same
State with themselves. And
they shall make distinct lists of all
persons voted for as President,and OF
all persons voted for as Vice Presi-
dent, and of the number of votes for
each which lists they shall sign and
certify, and transmit sealed to the sea,
of Government of the United States,
directed to the President of the Sem
ate. Tho President of the Senate
shall, in the presence of the Senate
and the House of Representatives open
all the certificates, and the vote shall
then be counted. The person having
the greatest number of votes for
President shall be the President, il
such number be a majority of the
whole number of electors appointed
ETC."
BY acts of 1892 and 1904 as adopted
in the Revised Statutes of the United
States, the following regulations are
made:
SEC. l35. The electors for each State
shall meet and give their votes upon
the first Wednesday in the year in
which they are appointed, at such
place, in each State, ,as the Legislature
of such State shall direct.
Sec. 136. 1t shall be the duty OF
the Executive Of each State to cause
three lists of the names Of the electors
of such State to be made and certi-
fed, and to be delivered to the elec-
tors on or before the day on which
they are required, by the preceding
section, to meet.
Sec. 1877. The electors shall vote
for President and Vice President, re-
spectivcly, In the manner directed by
the Constitution.
SEC. 13S. The electors shall make
and sign three certificates of all the
votes given by them, each of which
certificates shall contain two distinct
| lists, one of tho votes for President,
and the other of the votes for Vice
President, and shall annex to each OF
the certificates one of the lists of the
electors which shall have been fur
nished to them by direction of the
Executive Of the State.
| Sec. l39. The electors shall seal up
the certificates so made by them, land
certify upon each that the lists Of all
the votes of such State given for Pres.
ident, and Of all the votes given
for Vice President, are contained
| therein.
SEC. l40. The electors shall dispose
Of the certificates thus made by them
in the following manner:
| l. They shall, by writing under
their hands, or under the hands of q
majority Of them, appoint person to
take charge of and deliver to the
President of the Senate, at the seat OF
Government, before the frs. Wednes-
day in January then next ensuing, ono
of the certificates.
2. They shall forthwith forward by
the Post Office to the President Of the
Senate. at the seat Of Government, ,one
other of the certificates.
3. They shall forthwith cause the
other Of the certificates to be delivered
to the Judge Of that district in which
the electors shall assemble.
SEC. l42. Congress shall be In ses-
sion on the second Wednesday in
February succeeding every meeting
Of the electors. and the certificates, OF
so many of them as have been re-
celved, shall then be opened, the vote.
counted, and the persons to fill thu
offices Of President and Vice Presi
dent ascertained and declared, agree
able to the Constitution"
On several occasions prior to lS6!
objections had been made to recciv
ing the votes of certain States, on &C
count of alleged irregularities, but NJ
such vote was ever formally rejected
In 1864 resolution was adopted b!
j Congress excluding the electora
votes Of States then in rebellion, bn
as no votes were received from any o
them, none were rejected. A prece
dent was, however, set for the rejcc
ton of the vote of State by join
resolution concurred in both House
of Congress.
When the questions arose during
the first half of the century touchin.
, the acceptance or rejection of tn
votes of States, the returns from whicl
were irregular, long debates some
times arose which seriously interfere'
: with the prompt announcement Of tn
result. To cut off such debate, tn
Twenty-second Joint Rule Of the tw,
Houses was adopted in 1866, ard re
adopted by each succeeding Congress
except the present. The following
the text of the rule.
"If upon the reading Of any sue
certificate by the tcllers, any questio
shall arise in regard to the countin
of the votes therein certified, the sam
having been stated by tho presidin
officer, the senate shall thcreupo
withdraw and said question shall b
submitted to that body for its deciE
, , ion; and the speaker of the hous
shall in like manner submit the sal
|question to the house for its dccisi0
: and no question shall be decided a1
. firmatively, and no votes objected
shall be counted except by tho cor
current votes Of the two house
I which being obtained, the two house
3 shall reasscmble, and the presidin
!, officer shall then announce the decis
ion of the question submitted; an
upon such question there shall be n
8 debate In either house, and any othe
8 question to this object for which III
! two houses are assembled, may b
submitted and determined in lik
: manner"
o In 1873 electoral votes were reiecte