Year: 1876

!
! OUT THE VOTE OF A STATE-THE PREsI-
DENT OF THE sENATE'S S POWER.
The extreme doubt in which the returns
| have been received left the result OF the
| Presidential election, has left the counting
of the electoral vote in February next like
ly to be an event of very great interest and
Importance. On more than one occasion
the defects Of the machinery for determin-
ing which of two or more candidates has
! been legally elected to the Presidency have
been strikingly shown, and attempts have
been made to remedy them but while none
of these efforts have met with success, it
has also been fortunate that on no occasion
which has ever arisen has the actual result
been affected by the vote of any State which
forwarded its vote, and the validity fwhose
returns has been questioned. Now it seems
possible that such contingency may arise
| No provision has ever been made for
settling dispute of this kind. Section l,
Article II, Of theConstitution directs that
each State shall appoint, in such manner
as the Legislature thereof may direct, Il
number of electors equal to the whole num-
Der of Senators and Representatives to
which the State may be entitled in the
| Congress but no Senator or Representa-
tive, or person holding, an office of trust or
profit under the United States, shall be ap-
pointed an elector."


The Twelfth Amendment Of the Con
stitutiOn provides that the electors ''meet
in their respective States, and vote by bal
lot for President and Vice President, one
Of whom shall not be an inhabitant of the
same State with themselves x Aud
they shall make distinct lists Of all persons
voted for as President, and all persons voted
for as Vice President, and Of the number
of votes for each, which lists they shall sign
and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat
of the Government OF the United States,
directed to the President Of the Senate
The President Of the Senate shall, in the
presence of the Senate and House Of Re
presentatives, open all the certificates, and
the votes shall then be counted. The per
son having the greatest number Of votes
for President shall be the President, if such
number be It majority Of the whole number
Of electors appointed" &c.


By acts of 1892 and 1901, as adopted in
the Revised Statutes Of the United States,
the following regulations are made -


''Section 135. The electors for each
State shall meet and give their votes upon
the first Wednesday in December in the
year in which they are appointed at such
place, in each State as the Legislature Of
such State shall direct


Section 1856 1t shall be the duty of the
Executive of each State to cause three lists
Of the names Of the electors of such State
to be made and certified and to be deliver
ed to electors on or before the day on which
they are acquired, by the preceding section,
to meet.


Section 1871. The electors shall vote for
President and Vice President, respectively,
in the manner directed by the Constitution


"Section 1873. The electors shall make
and sign three certificates Of all the votes
given by them, each Of which certificates
shall contain two distinct lists, one Of the
votes for President, and the other Of the
votes for Vice President, and shall annex to
each Of the certificates one Of the lists Of tho
electors which shall have been furnished to
them by direction Of the Executive of the
State.


"Section 139. The electors shall seal up
the certificates so made by them, and GER
tify upon each that the lists Of all the votes
of such State given for President, and Of
all the votes given for Vice President, are
contained therein


Section 40. The electors shall dispose
of the certificates thus made by them in
the following manner -


Gone. They shall, by writing under their
hands, or under the hands of majority of
them, appoint a person to take charge Of
and deliver to the President Of the Senate,
at the seat Of government, before the first
Wednesday in January then next ensuing,
one of the certificates


Two. They shall forthwith forward,
by the post office, to the President Of the
Senate, at the seat of government, one other
of the certificates.


"'Three. They shall forthwith cause the
other of the certificates to be delivered to
the judge of that district in which the cleo
tors shall assemble


Section 142. Congress shall be in session
on the second Wednesday in February sue
ceeding every meeting Of the electors, and
the certificates, or SO many of them as have
been received shall then be opened, the
votes counted, and the persons to fill the
offices of President and Vice President
ascertained and declared agreeable to the
| Constitution.


On several occasions prior to 1869 OBJ
jections had been made to receiving the
votes of certain States on account Of alleged
irregularities, but no such vote was ever
formally rejected In 1864 a resolution
was adopted by Congress excluding the
electoral votes of States then in rebellion,
but as no votes were received from any Of
them none were rejected. A precedent
was, however, set for the rejection of the
vote of State by Joint resolution con-
Cured ia by both houses of Congress.


When the questions arose during the
| first half of the century touching the ac-