Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-11-24
Reading Matter on Every Page


W DateNer meLnOt Oh congress
may adopt in counting the electoral vote in
February. custom and precedent, up to the
time of the adoption of the twenty second
joint rule. gave the sole power of opening
and counting the vote to the presiding officer
of the Senate. In l7s9 an order was adopted
informing the House that a President of the
Senate had been elected s-for the sole purpose
Of opening the certificates and counting the
votes of the electors Sc. John Adams. in
179s, as presiding officer of the Senate. with
out the dissent Of either house. opened ami
counted the votes and declared himself duly
elected President Ofthe United States. Charles
Pinckney, one OF the trainers of the constitu-
ton. said, March -. 1SDo: TO give to Con-
gress even when assembled in convent ioa, a
right To reject or admit the (elec:OraD votes
of states, would have been so gross and dan
geTOuS an absuriiiy : the trainers Ofthe con-
stitutIon never could have been guilty Of"
The presiding officer of the Senate opened
and cunted the vote i'm ISOj, 1893, and 1915. In
Ioi7. while the count was proceeding, Mr..
Taylor. of New York. arose, and addressing
the Speaker OF the House. who sat next 10 the
President Of the Senate. objected TO the vote
of Indiana being read and received on the
ground that Indiana was not state i'm the
Union. The Speaker promptly informed Mr..
Taylor that ne was out of order, that the two
the counting of the electoral vote and that
while so acting i'm joint meeting they could
consider no proposition nor perform any
business not prescribed by the constitution.
subsequently the two houses separated for
delibeTation, when the House indefinitely
postponed Mr.. TaylOr'S resolution. The Joint
convention reasSembled. and the President
of the Senate proceeded to count the vote
without further interruption. In ISL some
doubt was expressed as to the validity of the
vote of Missouri. and the two houses adopted
"a joint rule providing for tellers To make a
lit N the votes as they were declared and a
resolution that in case any objection was
made To counting the vote Of Missouri ssand
tire counting or emitting To count which
shall not essentially change the result of the
election, in that caSc they shall be reported
by the President of the Senate i'm the follow
ing manner: Were the vote OF Missouri to be
counted. the result would be, for A Il, for
President Of the United States - votes. if
not counted, for y II. as President of the
United states. - votes; but in either event
"A Il Il elected President of the United States
and in the same manner for Vice President"
When the vote of Missouri was reached sew
eral members inquired whether or not
the vote of that state was to b.
counted, but no debate was permit
TED, and the President OF the Senate
declared the result in accordance with the
resolution previously adopted. In 1S29 and
In lSSS. the President OF the Senate counted
the votes In lSS7 the question arose concern
ing the legality OF the electoral vote of Mich
lsan, and was disposed of in precisely the
same way as tine question about the vote of
Missouri in ISL. In 1sIa, Vice President Dal-
las addressed the two houses "a follows:
In obedience to law. the Senate and House
oi Representatives have assembled on the
Present occasion. so that 1 NAV fulfill the
duty enioined upon me by the Constitution
In answer to- a suggestion. Mr.. Dallas stated
fat no motion was i'm order and that no
other mode Of proceeding could be adopted
fTt that pointed our 10y the Constitution of
TIE United States. In 1s53 the vote was
counted aS usual In 1861. Mr.. Lyman Trum-
"uli- who was chairman of The Joint Com
mlitee on cOuIJing tie votes said with ref
eie'ice 10 the rule reported. 1T il the usual
form of canva>sing the votes for President
ard Vice President which has been adopted
since the foundation of tine government In
Pc, Senator Wade moved To dispense with
the reading i'm everything in the certificate
except the result OF the vote, bu; Mr. = :
COX reminded him and the Chair that il WAS
rot competent for the Joint convention to-
Fave any motion submitted. i'm which opinion
the Chair at once cODcurre.i.