Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1877-01-25
THE ELECTORAL COUNT.
Agreement Of the Congressional
Joint Committee.
The Mode and Manner Of Procedure
of the Canvass.
Full Text of the Bill as Drawn and
Presented to the Senate and
House.

WASHINGTON, January 1S.-In the Senate
to-day, Edmunds from the special joint elec-
toral committee, reported in writing, accom-
panying the report with bill. He said that
all the members of both committees had
signed the report with one exception. The
committee would desire to take the bill up
by Saturday or Monday at farthest, believing
but measure of justice, in aid of constitu-
tional government, which would command
respect and which surrendered nobody's
rights.
The following is the bill accompanying the
report presented by Edmunds:
A bill to provide for and regulate the count
ing of the votes for President and Vice Presi-
dent and decisions of questions arising there
on, for the term commencing March 4th,
1877:
Be It enacted, ete.-That the Senate and
House of Representatives shall meet in the
hall of the House of Representatives at the
hour of 10 o'clock post meridian, on the first
Thursday in February, 1877, and the Presi-
dent of the Senate shall be the presiding
officer. Two tellers shall be previously ap-
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 certificates
and papers purporting to be certificates of
the electoral vote, which certificates and
papers shall be opened, presented, and acted
upon in alphabetical order of the States, be-
ginning with "a, and the said tellers having
then read the same in the presence and hear
ing of the two Houses shall make list of
the votes as they shall appear from said GER
tifcates, and the votes having been ascer-
tanned and counted, as in this act provided,
the result of the same shall be delivered to
the President of the Senate, who shall there
upon announce the state of the vote and the
names of the persons, if any elected. which
announcement shall be deemed sufficient
declaration of the persons elected President
and Vice President of the United States, and
together with list of the votes be entered on
the journals of the two Houses.
Upon such reading of any such certificate
or paper, when there shall be only one re-
turn from State, the President of the Senate
shall call for objections, if any. Every OBJ
lection 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 House of Representatives before the same
shall be received. When all objections so
made to any vote or paper from State shall
have been received and read, the Senate shall
thereupon withdraw, and such objections
shall be submitted to the Senate for its deci-
sion, and the Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives 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
he's 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
officers shall then announce the decision Of
the question submitted.
That II more than one return or paper pur-
porting to be return from State shall have