The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-01-12
how THE ELECTORAL VOTES WERE COUNT
DRESS, WITH AAk6N BURR,
VICE PRECEDENT,

fEs' fREsfDiNa.
have been examining for myself to as.
certain the practice of Congress in counting
the electoral votes for President and Vice
President, and herewith send you tran,
script COPIED from Benton's Abridgemcnt
Of the Debates of Congress) of what oc,
eurred in 1905, when Mr.. Jefferson was re,
elected President. Your readers will please
note the words which l have italicized
"Vol III, pages 167, 16s. Wednesday;
February 13, 1905 Counting of electoral
votes for President and Vice President
About IL o'clock the Senators took their
seats, and Immediately aftcrythc House Of
Representatives entered
Mr.. Samuel Smith, teller on the part of
tho Senate, and Mr.. Joseph Clay and MIR.
II. Griswold, tcllers on the part Of the House,
took seats at a table placed in front of the
chair, in the area between the Senate and
House.
The Secretary of the Senate read the
resolutions of the two houses previously
agreed to-
The Presideht t>A-- Burr) stated that
pursuant TO law, there had been transmitted
to him several packets which, from the in.
dorsements upon them, appeared to be the
votes of the electors Of President snd
Vice President; that the returns forwarded
by the mail, as well as the duplicates sent
by special messengers, had been received by
him in due timo. You WiW noW proceed,
gentlenen, said he, 'to count the Uotes as the
constitution and a,os direct adding that,
pcrceiving no cause for preference in the
order of opening the returns, he would pur-
sue geographical arrangement, beginning
with the Northern States.
The President of the Senate then pro-
ceeded to break the seals of the respective
returns, handing each return and its accom-
panying duplicate, as the seals aocre broken,
to the tcIlcrs, through the Secretary, Mr.. s.
Smith reading aloud tie returns and the
attestations Of the appointment Of the cleo
tors, and Mr.. j. Clay and Mr.. R. Gris,oold
comparing them ,oih the duplicate returns
Iyiny before them. According to which
enumeration the following appeared to be
the result" The result is then given.
CATER the returns had been ALL enan,-
incd, ,oihom any objections having been made
to receioing any Of the votes, Mr. S. Smith,
on behalf of the tcllers, communicated to
the President the foregoing result, which
was read from the chair, when the Vice
President said, From this report it becomes
my duty to declare, agreeably to the con,
stituton, that Thomas Jefferson is elec-
ted, &c. I,
As the Herald remarked some weeks ago,
it is of more consequence 10 the American
neonle to have fair count than to have any
particular man for President And they
will submit to Hayes or Tilden, as the case
may be, but they will insist that the clecto'
raj votes must be counted in the manner
provided by the constitution. If the Pres
dent of the Senate has any duty to perform
other than to "open all the certificates" II
the presence of the Senate and House o
Representatives, if he has anything to d.
with the examination and count, L have
been unable to discover it, Mr. Burr woul'
surely have exercised the right to examin
if he thought he possessed it; but all h
a;d ,os 70 brook the seals and hand the re
turns to the tellers, by whom they wer
examined. d..-C. 4. j., an ~. Y. Herald.