The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-12-01

The protracted and embittered post |
election dispute Of last year over the presi- |
dency grew out Of the vagueness of the
constitution on the subject Of counting the
electoral votes. The right to count the
votes Involves the right to determine what
are votes-that is, Of determining which of
two different certificates from the same
state must be recognized and accepted.
The Republicans who controlled the senate
claimed that the president OF that body
possesses exclusive authority to perform
this important function, while the demo
Gratis on the other hand denied the presi-
dent of the senate authority over the mat
ter, and insisted that the joint session is
the proper power to do the counting. and
in case Of n disagreement between the two
houses composing the joint session, that
the house should choose the prerideDt and
the senate the vice-president Mr.. Har-
rison (democrat) of the Second district,
Illinois, has introduced bill to prevent the
recurrence Of this difficulty. 1t leaves the
method Of voting at presidential elections
as il is now, that is, choosing electors and
having them to choose the president and
vice president. But il provides that after
apresidential election the joint session shall
meet for the purpose of counting the
electoral votes on the first day Of February
following, and continue in session till the
count is completed, except that recess
may be taken at any time. to last not longer
than noon of the following day. The chief
justice of the supreme court is 10 preside,
assisted by the president Of the senate and
the speaker Of the house; if the chief
justice shall fail to be present, his place
shall be filed by the senior associate justice
of the supreme court. All appeals from
the presiding officers decision are to be
decided without debate by the presiding
officer aud his two assistants. The presi-
dent Of the senate is to open the certif.
Gates and the votes are to be counted by
tellers, two from the house and one from
the senate. When objections to counting
any electoral vote are made it must be in
writing, and the objections may be debated
for two hours, but no member shall speak
longer than ten minutes. The question of
receiving or rejecting any electoral vote
shall be determined by an yea-and nay
vote of the tohOle body. each member of the
convention having one vote.
The last provision regulating the method
Of voting on the reception or rejection of
electoral votes is the marked feature 10 the
bill. Hitherto it has been the rule to re.
gard the joint convention as composed OF
two distinct bodies, each voting by itself
with no umpire between them where they
disagree. The proposed bill makes it one
body aud merges the votes in mass. The
result would be that in a warm partisan
contest in which the parties were strictly
arrayed that house having the larger party
majority would decide. 10 the late con
gress the house was democratic by IA ma
iority and the senate republican by II ma
jority-showing democratic majority on
Joint ballot of 81. Had the rule proposed
by the Harrison bill prevailed in the late
contest, therefore, the Hayes and Wheeler
certificates from Louisiana and Florida
would have been rejected and the Tildeu
and Hendricks certificates eounted-thus
electing Tilden and Hendricks.
The proposed rule is not absolutely
equitable, since it would permit political
instead of judicial determination of the
points involved IN a presidential contest
But it is probable no absolutely equitable
rule can be devised for the settlement of q
dispute involving so large measure Of
popular and party passion as our presiden.
tial contests involve. All that we car
hope to do is to invent some rule which vii
make prompt and absolute decision a.
nearly fair as the case will admit Of.