The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-02-12

Iall--suoh Is the general ruling and
under the law of Louisiana these elee-
tors cannot be considered as having
been duly voted for. Such, 10 the
statute law of Louisiana, that an ineIigi-
Die elector, voted for IN fact, IN lao is
considered as not duly Uoted for"
quote from the act of 1868, section
1898, Revised Statutes.
Every qualified voter In the State shall vote
| for Electors as follows Two persons shall be
selected from this State at large and ono person
| shall bs chosen from each Congressional dis
| rict in the State: and In case any ticket shall
| contain two or more names Of persons residing
| in the same district Except the two chos on from
the state ut lgrge1. the llrst OF such names only
| shall be considered as voted for.
II an elector, made ineligible by the
law of Louisiana, is considered as not
duly voted for, fortiori, all electors
made Ineligible by an absolute prohibi-
| ton OF the constitution Of the United
States must be consider cd as not voted
for. Then The Repu blicans, in the eye
Of the law, had but six electors in the
field, and but six were chosen by the
people.
On the 9Th Of December the Republ-
can Electoral College met, with but six
constitutional electors; they could cast
but six votes; louisa ma Is entitled to
eight; the college is incomplete; how
could it be completed
Let us now refer to the Statutes Of the
United States, volume 5, page 721.
quote from the act of 1916:
The electors of the President and Vice Presi-
dent shall be appointed in each State on the
| Tuesday next after the first Monday in the
are to be- appointed: ProDided That each 4 ate
nay by law provide for the filing OF any vacan-
cy or vacancies wh ch may occur in its college
Of electors when such college meets to give it's
electoral vote: and provided also, when any
State shall have held an election for the purpose
Of choosing elect rs; and shall fail to make
choice on the day aforesaid then the electors
may be appointed on q subsequent day in such
manner as tho Stale shall by Inv provide
AS we have seen, the difficulty to be
met In the completion Of the electoral
college is the fact that the people on
the 7th Of November failed to make o
choice OF two electors. Hence it is the
second ploviso Of the under which
relief must be found, an we turn to the
law of Louisiana to find what has been
enacted under that proviso. This brings
us back to the act Of 1868. We there
find, under section 1880, OF the Revised
Statutes, the following;
IF any one or more Of the Electors chosen bu
| the people shall fail, from any caus Q whatever,
to attend at tho appointed place, ut the hour OF
| p. IN. of Abe day prescribed for their meeting,
it shall be tho duty of the other Electors imme-
diately to proceed by ballot to supply such va
cancy or vacancies.
This law, it Is clear, fully provides for
vacancies which might have occurred
between the election Nov. 7, 1876, when
the electoral college was created by the
votes Of the people, and the sixth Of
December, when the college met to cast
Its vote, and comes fully under the first
does it touch the difficulty in question
Does it provide way for completing an
electoral college where the people have
| not chosen electors? It's words are: eff
any one or more of the electors chosen by
| the Deopte." etc. Then we must
| look further into the law Of the State
for our remedy; but, unfortunately for
the hopes Of this incomplete Electoral
College, our lawmakers seem never to
have contemplated the event Of a fail
ure to make choice upon the part OF
the people, and there is no law upon the
statute books of Louisiana enacted
under the second proviso Of the act OF
Congress.
It may be stated then. as an irrefuta-
BILE fact, that in the State Of Louisiana,
IL, at an election for presidential cleo
tors, the people fail to choose electors
or an elector, then there Is no
law by which an electoral col
lege may be created or an incom-
plete electoral college completed.
The Republican electoral college was
composed OF but six members on the
sixth day Of December, and there was
no law, national or State, under which
it could be completed.