Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-11-15


action is had by Congress before the
day fixed for counting the votes in
February, the count viii have to be
made under the general direction Of
the constitutional provision. That
provision reads as follows:
The electors .ha meet in their respective
| States ard vote by ballot Tor President and
| NIcc-prsidcnt, one OF whom ut least, shall
not be an nhabitant Of the s,iIne State rs Them
.oives; they shat name in their haiios the
person voted for n President, and in distinct
ballots the person voted Tor Us Vice President :
and they shall make distinct lists eta persons
| voted Tor ne President, and Of all persons voted
for as Vice President, AID # The number OF
totes FOR each, which lists hey -hall sign md
certify and transmit, stacd 10 the Of Govern
nicnt al The CG.tcu States. drrcled 10 the
| President of lie Senate. Said President shall,
in The presence of the Senate and House of
| Representatives, open all he certificates, and
| HE votes shall Then he counted. he person
having the greatest number oi VOTES tor Prcsi-
| dent shall be The President, if such number
! be uajOiily of he whole number OF electors
| appointed and if no person have such a ma
! jor,ty. then from the persons i.avlng the high.
est nu;ahc,,. not exceeding three on The Iii OF
| hose voted for rs President, he House of
Representa- ives shalt choose Immediately. by
| im,lot, the President.
1t will be observed that this pro-
vision leaves several important things
open to construction. The votes of
the several Electoral Colleges are to
be sealed up and sent to the Presi-
dent of the Senate, and by him to
be opened only. and for the FIRST
time, III the presence Of the two
nOu'es when they are assembled to
wi!Dess the counting Of the vote
1t has generally been considered
that the two houses are assembled,
not as joint convention, or rs com
stitutiug one body made up Ct the
members Of each house, but that
each house is present in its own ca
pacity to witness the counting Of
the vote. The President OF the
Senate is to open the packages con-
tanning the electoral votes, in the
presence of the two houses, and
The votes shall then be counted"
BY whom shall the votes be counted,
aud who shall determine and pro-
nouuce the result Ii the two houses
thus assembled do not constitute ~
Joint convention with the power in
that character to count the votes
and determine the result, then the
two houses cannot act ut all, except
each in its separate capacity and
a3ting in that way, they could take
no action that would be of y binding
character unless both houses con-
Cured in it. II the two houses can
not count the votes, then it must b.
done by the President OF the Senate,
and it will be for him to determine
aud announce the result. When the
electoral vote was counted in 1897,
objection was made to receiving
Wisconsin, upon the ground that
the electors had not east their votes
on The day fixed by law having been
prevented by SNOW storm, although
the vote waS cast on the next day !;
but Nv. Mason, President Of Ne
Senate, decided thar the objection
was not in order, and that roth
ing was in order hut to connt the
votes. His decision created much
| discussion and excitement vt the
time, and led to unite an extended
consideration of the whole subject
in each house 1t MAY be said that
| the general current opinion from
the beginning has been that the two
houses. when assembled to witness
tho connting Of the vote, TO not
censtitGtc a joint convention, or a
single body composed OF the mem
! hers Of each house, bat that each
house is present in its separate ca
! pacity ia witnesses to the counting
Of the votes. IA to what power or
control the two houses acting sepa-
rat.iy may exercise over tho count
! INK of the votes aud the determine
! tion y, to who has been elected, has
been the subject Of discussion, and
| ahout which there has been z great
difference of opinion. Ia the bill
which | presented to the senate, |
assumed that the two houses, by
their current action, might control
the counting of the votes. The
twenty-second joint rule pat it ia
tbs power OF one house alone TO
disiraachise any or all the States,