Year: 1877

the United States : .g A bill to provide for and regulate the

 counting of votes for President and

 Vice-President, and the decision of

 questions arising thereon, for the

 term commencing March 4, A. D.

 1877:

 Be it enacted, etc., That the Senate and House of Representative shall meet in the hall of the House of Representa- tives, at the hour of one o'clock P. M. !, on the first Thursday in February, A. D. 1877, and the president of the Senate shall be their presiding officer. Two tellers shall be previously appointed on the part of the Senate and two on the part of the House of Representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are open ed by the president of the Senate, all the certificates and papers pu-porting to be certificates of electoral votes, which certificates and papers shall be opened, presented and acted upon in the alpha betical order of the States, beginning with the letter A, and said tellers having then read the same in the presence and hearing of the two houses, shall make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said certificates, and, the votes having been ascertained and counted as in this act provided, the result of the sane shall be delivered to the president of the Senate, who shall thereupon an: of the persons, if any, elected, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and President of the United States, and together with a list of the votes shall be entered on the journals of the two houses Upon such reading of any certificate or paper, when there shall be only one return from the State, the president of the Senate shall call for ob- jections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clear ly and concisely and without argument the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one senator and one member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all so made to any vote or paper from State shall have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon with draw, and such objections shall be sub mitted to the Senate for it's decision, and the Speaker of the House of Represen- tatives shall in like manner submit such to the House of Representa- tives for its decision, and no electoral vote or votes from any State from which but one return has been received shall be rejected except by the affirmative vote of the two houses. When the two houses have voted they shall immediate ly again meet, and the presiding officer shall then announce the decision of the question submitted .

 SEC. 3. That if more than one return or paper purporting to be return from 8 State shall have been received by the president of the Senate, purporting to be the certificates of electoral votes given at the last preceding election for Presi- dent and Vice President ill such State, unless they shall be duplicates of the same return, all such returns and papers shall be opened by him, in the presence of the two houses, when met as afore- said, and read by the tellers, and all such returns and papers shall thereupon be submitted to the judgment and deci- sions as to which is the true and lawful vote of such State, of commis- sion constituted as follows, namely |: During the session of each house on the Tuesday next preceding the first Thurs day in February, 1877, each House shall by UiuG Voce vote appoint five of it's who, with the five associate justices of the supreme court of the Uni ted States, to be ascertained as herein after provided, shall constitute con- mission for the decision of all questions upon or in respect of such double re- turns named in this section On the Tuesday next preceding the first Thurs day of February, A. D. 1877, or as soon as may be, the associate jus hces of the supreme court of the United States now assigned to the first, third, eighth and ninth circuits shall select, in such manner as majority of them shall deem fit, another of the associate jus tices of said court, which five persons shall be members of the said commis- sion, and the person longest in commis- sion of said five justices shall be the president of said commission. Members of said commission shall respectively take and subscribe the following oath:

 "I, -, do solemnly swear Cor affirm, as the case may be) that will examine and consider all questions submitted to the commission of which I am a member, and true judgment give thereon, agreeably to the Constitution and laws, so hel D me God. !" Which oath shall be filed with the secre- tary of the Senate.

 Whan the commission shall have been thus organized it shall not be in the power of either house to dissolve the same or to withdraw any of it's mem bers but if any such senator or mem Der shall die or become physically un- able to perform the duties required by this act, the fact of such death or physi- cal inability shall be by said commission, before it shall proceed further, communi- cated to the Senate or House of Repre- sentatives, as the case may be, which body shall immediately and without de- bate proceed by UivG Voce vote to fill the place so vacated, and the person so ap- pointed shall take and subscribe the oath hereinbefore prescribed, and be- come 8 member of said commission. And, in like manner, if any of said jus tices of the supreme court shall die or become physically incapable of perform ing the duties required by the act, the other of said justices, members of the said commission, shall immediately ap- point another justice of said court a member of said commission, and in such appointments regard shall be had to the impartiality and freedom from bias sought by the original appointments to said commission, who shall thereupon immediately take and subscribe to the oath hereinbefore prescribed, and be- come member of said commission to fill the vacancy so occasioned. --..

 All the certificates and papers purr ort- ing to be certificates of the electoral votes of each State shall be opened in the alphabetical order of the States, as provided in section one of this act, and when there shall be more than one such certificate or paper as the certificates or papers from such State shall be opened Excepting duplicates of the same return) , eyepon they Sn Se be 1aa presSn the rs ena aad shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and