[United States Senate Manual, 116th Congress]
[S. Doc. 116-1]
[Cleaves Manual of Conferences and Conference Reports]
[Pages 315-317]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
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TITLE 3--THE PRESIDENT
Chapter 1--PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND VACANCIES
318 Sec. 5. Determination of controversy as to appointment of
electors
If any State shall have provided, by laws enacted prior
to the day fixed for the appointment of the electors, for
its final determination of any controversy or contest
concerning the appointment of all or any of the electors of
such State, by judicial or other methods or procedures, and
such determination shall have been made at least six days
before the time fixed for the meeting of the electors, such
determination made pursuant to such law so existing on said
day, and made at least six days prior to said time of
meeting of the electors, shall be conclusive, and shall
govern in the counting of the electoral votes as provided in
the Constitution, and as hereinafter regulated, so far as
the ascertainment of the electors appointed by such State is
concerned. (June 25, 1948, ch. 644, 62 Stat. 673.)
319 Sec. 6. Credentials of electors; transmission to Archivist
of the United States and to Congress; public inspection
It shall be the duty of the executive of each State, as
soon as practicable after the conclusion of the appointment
of the electors in such State by the final ascertainment,
under and in pursuance of the laws of such State providing
for such ascertainment, to communicate by registered mail
under the seal of the State to the Archivist of the United
States a certificate of such ascertainment of the electors
appointed, setting forth the names of such electors and the
canvass or other ascertainment under the laws of such State
of the number of votes given or cast for each person for
whose appointment any and all votes have been given or cast;
and it shall also thereupon be the duty of the executive of
each State to deliver to the electors of such State, on or
before the day on which they are required by section 7 of
this title to meet, six duplicate-originals of the same
certificate under the seal of the State; and if there shall
have been any final determination in a State in the manner
provided for by law of a controversy or contest concerning
the appointment of all or any of the electors of such State,
it shall be the duty of the executive of such State, as soon
as practicable after such determination, to communicate
under the seal of the State to the Archivist of the United
States a certificate of such determination in form and
manner as the same shall have been made; and the certificate
or certificates so received by the Archivist of the United
States shall be preserved by him for one year and shall be a
part of the public records of his office and shall be open
to public inspection; and the Archivist of the United States
at the first meeting of Congress thereafter shall transmit
to the two Houses of Congress copies in full of each and
every such certificate so received at the National Archives
and Records Administration. (June 25, 1948, ch. 644, 62
Stat. 673; Oct. 31, 1951, ch. 655, Sec. 6, 65 Stat. 711;
Pub. L. 98-497, Title I, Sec. 107(e)(1), (2)(A), Oct. 19,
1984, 98 Stat. 2291.)
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320 Sec. 15. Counting electoral votes in Congress
Congress shall be in session on the sixth day of January
succeeding every meeting of the electors. The Senate and
House of Representatives shall meet in the Hall of the House
of Representatives at the hour of 1 o'clock in the afternoon
on that day, 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
opened by the President of the Senate, all the certificates
and papers purporting to be certificates of the electoral
votes, which certificates and papers shall be opened,
presented, and acted upon in the alphabetical 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 according to the rules in this
subchapter provided, the result of the same shall be
delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall
thereupon announce the state of the vote, which announcement
shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons, if
any, elected President and Vice President of the United
States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered
on the Journals of the two Houses. Upon such reading of any
such certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall
call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made
in writing, and shall state clearly 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
objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall
have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon
withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the
Senate for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such
objections to the House of Representatives for its decision;
and no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall
have been regularly given by electors whose appointment has
been lawfully certified to according to section 6 of this
title from which but one return has been received shall be
rejected, but the two Houses concurrently may reject the
vote or votes when they agree that such vote or votes have
not been so regularly given by electors whose appointment
has been so certified. If more than one return or paper
purporting to be a return from a State shall have been
received by the President of the Senate, those votes, and
those only, shall be counted which shall have been regularly
given by the electors who are shown by the determination
mentioned in section 5 of this title to have been appointed,
if the determination in said section provided for shall have
been made, or by such successors or substitutes, in case of
a vacancy in the board of electors so ascertained, as have
been appointed to fill such vacancy in the mode provided by
the laws of the State; but in case there shall arise the
question which of two or more of such State authorities
determining what electors have been appointed, as mentioned
in section 5 of this title, is the lawful tribunal of such
State, the votes regularly given of those electors, and
those only, of such State shall be counted whose title as
electors the two Houses, acting separately, shall
concurrently decide is supported by the decision of such
State so authorized by its law; and in such case of more
than one return or paper purporting
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to be a return from a State, if there shall have been no
such determination of the question in the State aforesaid,
then those votes, and those only, shall be counted which the
two Houses shall concurrently decide were cast by lawful
electors appointed in accordance with the laws of the State,
unless the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently
decide such votes not to be the lawful votes of the legally
appointed electors of such State. But if the two Houses
shall disagree in respect of the counting of such votes,
then, and in that case, the votes of the electors whose
appointment shall have been certified by the executive of
the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted. When
the two Houses have voted, they shall immediately again
meet, and the presiding officer shall then announce the
decision of the questions submitted. No votes or papers from
any other State shall be acted upon until the objections
previously made to the votes or papers from any State shall
have been finally disposed of. (June 25, 1948, ch. 644,
Sec. 1, 62 Stat. 675.)
321 Sec. 16. Same; seats for officers and Members of two Houses
in joint meeting
At such joint meeting of the two Houses seats shall be
provided as follows: For the President of the Senate, the
Speaker's chair; for the Speaker, immediately upon his left;
the Senators, in the body of the Hall upon the right of the
presiding officer; for the Representatives, in the body of
the Hall not provided for the Senators; for the tellers,
Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of
Representatives, at the Clerk's desk; for the other officers
of the two Houses, in front of the Clerk's desk and upon
each side of the Speaker's platform. Such joint meeting
shall not be dissolved until the count of electoral votes
shall be completed and the result declared; and no recess
shall be taken unless a question shall have arisen in regard
to counting any such votes, or otherwise under this
subchapter, in which case it shall be competent for either
House, acting separately, in the manner hereinbefore
provided, to direct a recess of such House not beyond the
next calendar day, Sunday excepted, at the hour of 10
o'clock in the forenoon. But if the counting of the
electoral votes and the declaration of the result shall not
have been completed before the fifth calendar day next after
such first meeting of the two Houses, no further or other
recess shall be taken by either House. (June 25, 1948, ch.
644, Sec. 1, 62 Stat. 676.)
322 Sec. 17. Same; limit of debate in each House
When the two Houses separate to decide upon an objection
that may have been made to the counting of any electoral
vote or votes from any State, or other question arising in
the matter, each Senator and Representative may speak to
such objection or question five minutes, and not more than
once; but after such debate shall have lasted two hours it
shall be the duty of the presiding officer of each House to
put the main question without further debate. (June 25,
1948, ch. 644, Sec. 1, 62 Stat. 676.)
323 Sec. 18. Same; parliamentary procedure at joint meeting
While the two Houses shall be in meeting as provided in
this chapter, the President of the Senate shall have power
to preserve order; and no debate shall be allowed and no
question shall be put by the presiding officer except to
either House on a motion to withdraw. (June 25, 1948, ch.
644, Sec. 1, 62 Stat. 676; Sept. 3, 1954, ch. 1263, Sec. 3,
68 Stat. 1227.)
5 u.s.c.--government organization and employees
united states senate procedures enacted in law