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The Congress
House and Senate staff come to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) to inspect the Certificates of Vote in late December.
Because the statutory procedure prescribes that the Certificates of Vote sent to the President of the Senate be held under seal
until Congress opens and counts them in joint session, the Congress depends on the OFR to ensure the facial legal
sufficiency of Certificates. If any State's Certificate fails to reach the President of the Senate, the President of the Senate calls
on OFR to deliver duplicate originals in its possession to complete the set held by Congress. After the 1988 general election,
the President of the Senate called for nineteen of the Certificates of Vote held by the OFR. For the 1992 election, the OFR
supplied the Congress with two missing Certificates of Vote.
The Congress is scheduled to meet in joint session in the House of Representatives at one o'clock January 6, 2001 (this date is
subject to change) to conduct the official tally of electoral votes. The Vice President, as President of the Senate, is the presiding
officer. Two tellers are appointed to open, present and record the votes of the States in alphabetical order. The President of
the Senate announces the results of the vote and declares which persons, if any, have been elected President and Vice
President of the United States. The results are entered into the official journals of the House and Senate. The President of the
Senate then calls for objections to be made. If any objections are registered, they must be submitted in writing and be signed
by at least one member of the House and Senate. The House and Senate would withdraw to their respective chambers to
consider the merits of any objections according the procedure set out under 3 U.S.C. section 15.
nara.gov
§ 15. 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
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. |
