The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-01-25
The following is the text of the bill accom-
Yanvinp the rAn0rt.

The following is the text of the bill accom-
panying the report:
A BILL to provide for and regulate the counting o.
votes for President and Vice President, and th,
decision of questions arising thereon for thu
term commencing March 4, A. d. 1877.
| Be 1t enacted by the Senate and House of Rep
resentdtiues of The United States of America
I'M Congress assembled, That the senate anC
House of Representatives, shall meet in the
hall of the House of Representatives at the
hour of o'clock, post meridian on the first
Thursday in February, A. D. 1877, and the
President Of the Senate shall be the presiding
officer. Two tellers shall be previously APP
pointed on the part of the Senate, and two on
the part Of the House OF Representatives, to
whom shall be handed, as they are opened by
the President Of the Senate, all the certificates
and papers purporting to be certificates of
/ electoral votes, beginning with GA" and said
tellers, having then read the same in the pres
ence and hearing Of the two houses, shall
make list of the votes as they shall appear
from the said certificates, and the votes having
been ascertained and counted, as in this act
provided, the result Of the same shall be de-
| ivered to the President of the Senate, who
| shall thersupon announce the state of the
| vote and the names Of the persons Cf amy
/ elected, which announcement shall be deemed
a sufficient declaration of persons elected
/ President and Vice President of the United
States, and, together with list of the votes,
be entered on the journal OF the two houses.
| Upon such reading of any such certificate or
paper, when there shall be only one
| return from q State, the President of the
| Senate shall call for objections if any, Every
objection shall be made in writing, and shall
state clearly and concisely, and without argu-
| ment, the ground thereof, and shall be signed
by at least one Senator and one member of the
- ,%o+sx h1Ao A.
shall be received. When all objections so
made to any vote or paper from any State shall
have been received and read, the Senate shall
thereupon withdraw, and such objections shall
be submitted to the Senate for its decision, and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives
shall in like manner submit such objections to
the House OF Representatives for its decision
and no electoral vote or votes from any State
from which but one return has been received
shall be objected to except by the affirmative
vote of the two houses. When the two
houses have voted, they shall Immediately
again meet, and the presiding officer shall
then announce the decision of the question
submitted.
SEC. 2. That if more than one return or pa
per purporting to be the return from any State
shall have been received by the President of
the Senate purporting to be certificates of the
electoral Votes given at the last preceding
election for President and Vice President in
such State, unless they shall be duplicates of
the same returns, ali such returns and papers
shall be opened by him in the presence of the
two houses when met as aforesaid, and read
by the tellers, and all such returns and papers
shall thereupun be submitted to the judgment
and decision, as to which is the true and lawful
electoral votes of such State of commission
constituted as follows, namely: During the ses-
sion of such house on the Tuesday next proceed
ing the first Thursday in February, 1877, each
house shall by viva voce vote appoint five
of it's members, who, with five Associate JUS
tees of the Supreme Court of the United
States, to be ascertained as hereinafter pro-
vided, shall constitute commission for the
decision of all questions upon or in respect OF
such double returns named in this section. On
the Tuesday next preceding the first Thursday
in February, A. D. 1877, or as soon there
after as may be- the Associate Justices of the
Supreme Court of the United States DOW as
signed to the First, Third, Eighth and Ninth
districts shall select, in such manner as ma
| jority Of them shall deem fit, another Of the
Associate Justices Of said court, which five
| persons shall be members of said commission,
and the person longest in commission of
| the said Justices shall be President of said
| commission. The members of said commits
sion shall respectively take and subscribe
| to the following oath: II (blank) do solemnly
| swear Cor AFFIRM as the case may beg that will
impartlallY examine and consider all questions
| submitted to the commission Of which am
member, and true judgment give thereon,
agreeable to the cOnstlttlOn and laws, so help
me God, /" which oath shall be filed with the
Secretary of the Senate. When the commits
| sion shall have been thus organized, it shall
| not be in the power Of either house to dissolve
the same or to withdraw any Of it's members :;
| but If any such Senator or member shall die
or become physically unable to perform the
/ 1,,ks l.
death or physical disability shall be by said
commission, before it shall proceed
further, communicated to the Senate or
the House Of Representatives, as
the case may be, which body shall
immediately and without debate proceed by
viva-voce vote to fill the place 30 vacated, and
the person 80 appointed shall take and sub
scribe to the oath hereinbefore prescribed, and
| shall become member OF said commission {;
and, in like manner, if any of the said Justices
OF the Supreme Court shall die, or become
| physically incapable of performing the duties
required by this act, the others of said Justices,
members OF the said commission, shall imme-
diately appoint another Justice Of said court, a
member OF said commission. and in such ap-
poiutment regard shall be had to impArtialitv
and freedom from bias sought by the original
appointments to said commission, who shall
| thereupon Immediately take and subscribe to
the oath hereinbefore described and become
member OF said commission to fill the
vacancy 80 occasioned. ALI the certificates
and papers pu1porting to DO the certificates
OF the electoral votes OF each State shall be
opened in alphabetical order of the States, as
provided in Sec. of this act, and when there
shall be more than one such certificate or
paper from such States, they shall so be
opened, and, excepting the duplicates Of the
same returning, they shall be read by the
tellers, and thereupon the President Of the
Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every
objection shall be made in writing, and shall
state clearly and concisely and without argu-
ment the ground thereof, and shall be signed
by at least one Senator ard one member of
the House Of Representatives before the same
shall he received. When all such objections
so made to any certificate, vote or paper
from a State shall have been received
and read, all such certificates, votes,
and papers 30 objected to, and
all papers accompanying the same,
together with such objections, shall be forth
with submitted to the said commission which
shall proceed to consider the same with the
same powers. il any, now possessed for that
| nv q two 0rofn IU