The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-11-02
A Danger Ahead Counting the Electo-
raj Vote.

1t does not seem to be generally known
that there is no provision, constitutional
or legal, which disposes of questions con-
nected with the counting of the electoral
vote. The electors meet at their respec-
tive State Capitols on the first Wednes-
day of December of the year in which
they are elected, vote by ballot for Presi-
dent and Vice-President, and transmit q 3
record of their votes to the President of
the, United States Senate. A law Of
Congress provides that the electoral vote
shall be counted by the two houses, in
joint session, on the second "Wednesday
in February next succeeding the meeting
of the electors of Prdsident and Vice
President. But there is no present mode
of determining, by joint action, whether
the vote of any particular State shall be
received or rejected. -,
What has been known as the Twenty
second joint rule met this difficulty, and
by it the counting has been governed for
the last three Presidential elections. I'm
der this rule, when the two houses as
semble to count the vote, as soon as any
objection is made to the vote of any
State for informality or any other reason,
the houseS separate to vote on the objec-
ton, each in its own chamber; and if
either House objects to the counting OF
the vote, the vote of the State objected
to is thrown out. Owing to a lack of
concert of action between the two Houses
last winter, no joint rules were adopted.
The Senate adopted the joint rules, ex-
cept the Twenty-second, and the House
did not concur. The House suspended
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth jointrules,
and the Senate returned the resolution
with the statement that, as the House
has not notified the Senate of the adop-
ton of Joint rules for the session, there
we're no joint rules in force. In case of
disagreement about the count, there is,
therefore no tribunal, at present constitu-
ted, to decide the question. ~ IN. -
The whole power is virtually in the
hands of the President of the Senate, at
present, but the two houses can, Of course,
adopt Joint rules next winter. There is
no likelihood, however, that the Repub-
lican Senate will agree to any rule that
gives the Democratic House the power to
reject the vote of State, and jn like
manner the House will not consent to
give that power to the Senate. These
facts and suggestions were brought out
in the debate in the Senate last spring on
the bill introduced by Senator Morton.
He prepared an Act of Congress accord
ing to which, in the case Of a sim
gle disputed return from any State, the
vote should not be thrown out unless by
agreement of both Houses, while in the
case of double sets of returns either
House might reject the vote of the State.
In the course of the debate it was sug-
gested that, as there was no final arbiter,
the country might one Of these days find
itself involved in a civil war OH the ques-
ton of who is elected President. When
the electoral votes were counted in Feb
ruary, 1873, objections, for different rea.
SONS, were madeto receiving the vote of
Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas
and Louisiana, In the case of five votes
of Georgia the objection was that the
candidate for whom they were cast were
dead. The objections in the other cases
were on the score of informality or ir-
regularity. Each house, under the Twen-
ty-second rule, considered the objections.
The Senate voted to count the vote of
Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and Louisi-
ana, and not to count the vote of Arkan-
sas. The House concurred as to ,Missis7
sippi and Texas, and did not concur as
to Georgia, (5) votes of which States
were, therefore, not voted. Very little
attention was paid to this, at the time
because the vote for President Grant was
overwhelming; but if the election had
been close, the exclusion of the votes of
these States might have changed its
whole character. The House, in the alb
sence of joint rule, has no means of
making effective its opposition to, or sup.
port of, the reception of. the vote fof any
State; while, if the acting Vice-Presi-
dent should refuse to count the vote, OF
any State, and he is bitter partisan,
what remedy has the House or the coun-
try.?-Ne,oseand Courier. r.:
l-t IL o. E i-fsl
.- All geographical mistake on
Grants part Those troops were wanted