The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1909-01-14
WILL
WILL ELECT PRESIDENT AND
VICE PRESIDENT.
How the President and Vice presi
dent are Actually Elected by
the State Electors,

VI MOnudy Oh tnlS week the preSl-
aen6ial electors met in every state in
the Union aud voted for president and
vice president, OF the United States. OF
course Tor some time it has been known
just how they would vote, 321 of them
voting for Taft and Sherman and 16l for
Bryan aud Kern, in accordance with the
result Of last November's election, but
there is a great deal of red tape and
ceremony to be gone through with be.
fore the republican nominees are offic-
\ tally declared the victors in the great
/ campaign of 1908.
In each state messenger is selected
to carry their vote to Washington City,
and the messenger is allowed Is cents
4 per mile one way to cover his expenses.
To cover the entire expense of the
quadrennial reunion of the electoral
college congress last session appro-
4 priated $14,500. or this sum the mes
B senger from the state of Washington will
pocket close to $1,000 and the one from
California will get nearly $500.
Each messenger on his arrival in
Washington will go to the capitol and
present the sealed packet containing
ehe certified vote Of his state to Vice
esident Fairbanks who will give him
receipt for the package purporting to
ntain certificate of the votes given
president and vice president of the
hited States by the electors of the
ate of-alleged to have been
ected November 8, 1905"
The packages from each state will
Then be deposited in little steel safe
That adorns corner of the vice presi-
Seats room at the capitol, where also
will be kept the envelopes containing
the election certificates that come to
the vice president by mail from each
state. While the electoral votes are
being put in this safe every four years,
il is rugged with electric burglar alarms
which would call half hundred capitol
police to the vice presidents room be-
fore any robber could get away with
the ballots. Thus guarded the electoral
votes will remain in the vice presi-
dents safe until few minutes before
one o'clock on the afternoon of Febru-
airy 10th when they will be carried to
the house of representatives by an i'm
posing procession of senators, headed
by the vice president and the senate's
officials.
In accordance with the custom of
many years, Sergeant at Arms Ransdell
Of the senate has had two small rose
wood boxes made as receptacles for the
Is electoral returns on their final journey
from the vice presidents chamber to
the hall OF representatives. Each box
is securely bound in brass and has an
imposing lock, which might be in good
IS stead ii there vas a repetition of the
Hlden-Hayes contest. Until 1868 only
one box was necessary to carry all the
electoral packets, but since then two
have been required. The contents of
the boxes will be increased this time
by the returns from Oklahoma. For
many years the same two boxes were
used, but after the count of Harrison
cleveland vote the late Senator Ingalls,
who was then president pro TEN OF the
senate, carried the boxes then used of
70 Kansas with him as trophies and
4 since that time new chests have been
made for each electoral count.
Before the arrival of the senatorial
procession with the chests, each borne
by two pages, Speaker Cannon will
have vacated the three front rows of
seats at his right for the senators to
eccapy.
The galleries of the house will un-
aouhteday be packed to their capacity
4 with the brilliant assemblage of fair
women and noted men. The moment
= uncle Joe spies the senate sergeant at
arms coming IN the center door, he will
bring his gavel down with crack loud
enough to raise every member to his
\ feet. Led by the sergeant at arms and
the vice president, the senators will
take their assigned seats while the
carefully guarded electoral boxes are
placed on the Speakers desk.
The vice president presides over the
count and the senate and house each
names two tellers. Their work in this
election as nearly every preceding
presidential count except the Hayes
Tilden will be perfunctory. In fact,
they will merely go through the form
of counting the votes, for the secretary
of the senate will have carefully con-
cealed under the tally sheets a COM
plete record of the electoral votes.
which will be produced and duly signed
as the actual tally when the count is
completed.