[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
[104th Congress]
[House Document 103-342]
[The United States Constitution]
[Pages 88-90]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 88]]

 

                          AMENDMENT XII.a



Sec. 219. Meeting of the electors and transmission and 
count of their votes.

  The  Electors shall meet in their respective states, 
and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at 
least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; 
they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and 
in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they 
shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of 
all persons voted for as Vice-President, and 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 presence 
of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates 
and the votes shall then be counted;-- * * *




[[Page 89]]

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  a The 12th amendment to the Constitution of the United States was 
proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Eighth 
Congress on December 12, 1803, in lieu of the original third paragraph 
of the first section of the second article, and was declared in a 
proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 25th of September, 
1804, to have been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the 
States. The dates of ratification were: North Carolina, December 21, 
1803; Maryland, December 24, 1803; Kentucky, December 27, 1803; Ohio, 
December 30, 1803; Virginia, December 31, 1803; Pennsylvania, January 5, 
1804; Vermont, January 30, 1804; New York, February 10, 1804; New 
Jersey, February 22, 1804; Rhode Island, March 12, 1804; South Carolina, 
May 15, 1804; Georgia, May 19, 1804; New Hampshire, June 15, 1804. 
Ratification was completed on June 15, 1804. The amendment was 
subsequently ratified by Tennessee on July 27, 1804. The amendment was 
rejected by Delaware, January 18, 1804; Massachusetts, February 3, 1804; 
and by Connecticut at its session begun May 10, 1804.


-  * * * The <> person having the greatest 
number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be 
a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person 
have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not 
exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House 
of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. 
But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the 
representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this 
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the 
states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. 
And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President 
whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth 
day of March next following, 

[[Page 90]]
then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the 
death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person 
having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the 
Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of 
Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two 
highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; 
a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number 
of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a 
choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of 
President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United 
States.



Sec. 220. The electoral count.

  The  electoral count occurs in 
the Hall of the House (III, 1819) at 1 p.m. on the sixth day of January 
succeeding every meeting of electors (3 U.S.C. 15), but for the 1957 
count the date was changed to Monday, January 7 (P.L. 436, 84th Cong.) 
and for the 1989 count the date was changed to Wednesday, January 4 
(P.L. 100-646). While a law prescribes in detail the procedure at the 
count, the two Houses by concurrent resolution provide for the meeting 
to count the vote, for the appointment of tellers and for the 
declaration of the state of the vote (III, 1961). Under the law 
governing the proceedings, the two Houses divide to consider objections 
to the counting of any electoral vote (3 U.S.C. 15; Jan. 6, 1969, pp. 
145-47); and when they have divided, a motion in the House to lay the 
objection on the table is not in order (Jan. 6, 1969; pp. 169-72). The 
Vice President-elect, as Speaker of the House, has participated in the 
ceremonies (VI, 446); and the Vice President, himself a candidate for 
the Presidency, has presided over proceedings and announced the election 
of his opponent in the election held the preceding November (Jan. 6, 
1961, pp. 288-91). See Deschler's Precedents, vol. 3, ch. 10 for 
discussion of the electoral college and the counting of electoral votes 
by the House and Senate.





Sec. 222. History of original provision for failure of 
electoral college to choose.

  The  20th amendment to the Constitution has 
clarified some of the provisions of the 12th amendment. In 1801 (III, 
1983), the House of Representatives chose a President under article II, 
section 1, clause 3 (see Sec. 152a, supra), the constitutional provision 
superseded by the 12th amendment.







Sec. 223. Occasions of election by House and Senate after 
1803.

  In  1825 the House elected a President under the 12th amendment 
(III, 1985); and in 1837 the Senate elected a Vice-President (III, 
1941).