[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 2, Chapters 7 - 9]
[Chapter 9.  Election Contests]
[A. In General]
[Â§ 3. State or Local Election Boards]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 983-984]
 
                               CHAPTER 9
 
                           Election Contests
 
                             A. IN GENERAL
 
Sec. 3. State or Local Election Boards

    Article I, section 4, clause 1 of the United States Constitution 
provides that the State legislatures shall prescribe the time, place 
and manner of holding congressional elections, but authorizes the 
Congress at any time to make or alter such regulations (except as to 
the location for electing Senators). Although Congress has provided the 
time for the election of Representatives (see 2 USC Sec. 7), most of 
the procedures for holding elections to the House--including the 
printing, casting, and counting of ballots--have been left to the state 
and local election boards and commissions to prescribe. (See Ch. 8, 
supra, for a complete discussion of election procedures.) Ordinarily, 
the House will refuse to intervene to overturn voting procedures 
adopted by the local authorities.(6)~ And it has been held 
that the House has no authority to order them to conduct a 
recount.(7)~
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 6. Sec. 3.2, infra.
 7. Sec. 3.1, infra.                          -------------------
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Lack of Authority Over State or Local Election Boards

Sec. 3.1 The House has no authority to order a state or local board of 
    elections to conduct a recount.

    In Sullivan v Miller (Sec. 52.5, infra), a 1943 Missouri contest, 
the parties filed a joint application proposing that the House order 
the Missouri Board of Election Commissioners to conduct a recount. It 
was concluded that although the House itself, through an elections 
committee, could undertake a recount, there was no precedent wherein 
the House had ordered a state or local board of election commissioners 
to take a recount.

Intervention in State or Local Elections

Sec. 3.2 The House will refuse to intervene in an election contest at 
    the state or local level, even at the request of both parties.

    In Sullivan v Miller (Sec. 52.5, infra), a 1943 Missouri contest, 
the parties had filed a joint application proposing that the House 
order the Missouri Board of Election Commissioners to conduct a 
recount. This application alleged that a prior recount by the state in 
a local election for Recorder in

[[Page 984]]

dicated a miscount of over 1,000 votes. The report of the Committee on 
Elections determined that the contest had not been formally brought 
before the House, and that the House should not intervene in a local 
contest merely to gather evidence for the parties.