    [United States Senate Manual, 117th Congress]
    [S. Doc. 117-1]
    [Cleaves Manual of Conferences and Conference Reports]
    [Pages 321-323]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 321]]

                                   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.)

    [[Page 322]]

           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