El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-15

count of 1901, when he and Burr tied
for first place, although all who voted
for Burr had voted for him only to be
vice president. There was some irreg-
ularity about the Georgia returns and
if they had been thrown out the cleo
ton would have gone into the house
with three candidates instead of two.
JefferSOns enemies charged that he
had counted these votes when he
should have rejected them. but most
authorities justify his course He de-
clared that there was no choice and
that the house would proceed to elect
president 1t was this historic
trouble that led 10 the 18th amend
ment to the constitution.
Aaron Burr presided over the joint
session in the second jefferson cleo
ton. and refused to take the RESPONSE
bIlity OF the count upon his shoulders,
saying to the house OF representa-
uYes; ~ on will now proceed, gentle
men, to count the vote, al the cOnsti-
tuition and the law directs" But the
senate jealous OF It's prerogat1yes,
next day required Burr to certify that
he had counted the vote.
Indiana Voted Too soon.
In 1917 Indiana sent in its cleo
toraI vote, although Indiana was not
a state at the time the vote was cast
II was protested, but congress lodged
by simply authorizing the presiding
Ottlcer to state that if the vote of In
diana were counted it would stand
so much for sO-and-sO and so much
Tor so-and-sOi but that If the vote of
Indiana were not counted the result
would be sO-and-sO. The same thing
happened when Missouri came into the
Union, and again when Michigan came
IN. such an alternative announcement
has been made in several other in
Stances, DuL the margin OF the sue
cesStul candidate in these instances
always was large enough 10 win with
out the questioned votes. Congress
never borrowed trouble by deciding
an unnecessary issue.
The repeated rows of the civil war
ana reconstruction periods are too
intricate and involved to be gone into
mere 1t was during the former period
InaL the famous twenty second Joint
rue which permitted the electoral
vote OF any state to be thrown out
SIMPLY by a disagreement of the two
houses, was passed The folly of this
rule is disclosed by the experience Of
TO accept ard count the Arkansas. vote.
Inc senate observing that there was
no seal or the state OF Arkansas on
the returns. threw them out After
ward IL was discovered that the state
II Arkansas at that time had no Of
LclaI seal a Republican senator
aLtefWard remarked that they had
ols1ranchrsed more than half a million
people IN 20 minutes simply because
they md not know the state had no
seal
Many vexing IroHlems have come I'D
H. connection with the counting.
Shculd the Georgia vote have been
counted when Its electors got mixed
on the Gate2 Should the WISCONSIN,
electors have had their votes counted
when they were delayed by a snow
storm These and many other cues
IonS nave arisen and have not affect
ed the issue. But suDDOsa the ebC71I7
come up when the result would hfngg
upon their determinations SupDOse
tney should come up in the present
three cornered fight and in the pres
ent temper Of the peODIe2 MAJ is
why so many demands are being made
Tor an Overhauling Of our elecfiO1
machinery Those who demand a
chanSe want machinery that will
as in fair WI
TomOrrow-The Succession Laws.