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. (Amendment XII.)

REMOVAL, DEATH, RESIGNATION, AND INABILITY

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. (Art. II, Sec. 1.)

II. SENATORS

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; * (Amendment XVII.)

III. REPRESENTATIVES

*

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, * (Art. I, Sec. 2.)

*

IV. TIME FOR HOLDING ELECTIONS OF SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. (Art. I, Sec. 4.)

V. SESSIONS OF CONGRESS

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day. (Art. I, Sec. 4.)

VI. NECESSARY AND PROPER CLAUSE

The Congress shall have Power *

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. (Art. I, Sec. 8.)

APPENDIX B

EXISTING STATUTORY PROVISIONS

I. THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT

BEGINNING OF TERM

The term of four years for which a President and Vice President shall be elected, shall, in all cases, commence on the fourth day of March next succeeding the day on which the votes of the electors have been given. (R. S. sec. 152.)

ELECTORS-NUMBER

The number of electors shall be equal to the number of Senators and Representatives to which the several States are by law entitled at the time when the President and Vice President to be chosen come into office; except, that where no apportionment of Representatives has been made after any enumeration, at the time of choosing electors, the number of electors shall be according to the then existing apportionment of Senators and Representatives. (R. S. sec. 132.)

ELECTORS-DATE OF APPOINTMENT

(1) Except in case of a presidential election prior to the ordinary period, as specified in sections one hundred and forty-seven to one hundred and forty-nine, inclusive, when the offices of President and Vice President both become vacant, the electors of President and Vice President shall be appointed in each State, on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in every fourth year succeeding every election of a President and Vice President. (R. Š. sec. 131.)

(2) Whenever any State has held an election for the purpose of choosing electors and has failed to make a choice on the day prescribed by law, the electors, may be appointed on a subsequent day in such a manner as the legislature of such State may direct. (R. S. sec. 134.)

ELECTORS-FILLING OF VACANCIES

Each State may, by law, provide for the filling of any vacancies which may occur in its college of electors when such college meets to give its electoral vote. (R. S. sec. 133.)

ELECTORS-DATE OF MEETING AND VOTING

That the electors of President and Vice President of each State shall meet and give their votes on the first Wednesday in January next following their appointment at such place in each State as the legislature of such State shall direct. (Sec. 1 of the act entitled "An act providing for the meeting of electors of President and Vice President and for the issuance and transmission of the certificates of their selection and of the result of their determination and for other purposes," approved May 29, 1928.)

ELECTORS-MANNER OF VOTING

The electors shall vote for President and Vice President, respectively, in the manner directed by the Constitution.

ELECTORS-CERTIFICATES OF ASCERTAINMENT

That it shall be the duty of the executives 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 Secretary of State 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 1 of this Act to meet, six duplicates original 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 Secretary of State 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 Secretary of State 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 Secretary of State of the United States at the first meeting of Congress thereafter shall transmit to the two Houses & Congress copies in full of each and every such certificate so received at the State Department.

ELECTORS CERTIFICATE OF VOTES

That the electors shall make and sign six certificates of all the votes given by them, each of which certificates shall contain two distinct lists, one of the votes for President and the other of the votes for Vice President, and shall annex to each of the certificates one of the lists of the electors which shall have been furnished to them by direction of the executive of the State.

ELECTORS-DISPOSITION OF CERTIFICATES

That the electors shall dispose of the certificates so made by them and the lists attached thereto in the following manner:

First. They shall forthwith forward by registered mail one of the same to the President of the Senate at the seat of government.

Second. Two of the same shall be delivered to the secretary of state of the State, one of which shall be held subject to the order of the President of the Senate, the other to be preserved by him for one year and shall then be a part of the public records of his office and shall be open to public inspection.

Third. On the day thereafter they shall forward by registered mail two of such certificates and lists to the Secretary of State at the seat of government, one of which shall be held subject to the order of the President of the Senate. The other shall be preserved by the Secretary of State for one year and shall be a part of the public records of his office and shall be open to public inspection. Fourth. They shall forthwith cause the other of the certificates and lists to be delivered to the judge of the district in which the electors shall have assembled.

ELECTORS CERTIFICATES NOT RECEIVED

That when no certificate of vote and list mentioned in this act from any State shall have been received by the President of the Senate or by the Secretary of State by the third Wednesday in the month of January after the meeting of the electors shall have been held, the President of the Senate or, if he be absent from the seat of government. the Secretary of State shall request, by the most expeditious method available, the secretary of state of the State to send up the certificate and list lodged with him by the electors of such State; and it shall be his duty upon receipt of such request immediately to transmit same by registered mail to the President of the Senate at the seat of government.

That when no certificates of votes from any State shall have been received at the seat of government on the fourth Wednesday of the month of January, after the meeting of the electors shall have been held, the President of the Senate or, if he be absent from the seat of government, the Secretary of State shall send a special messenger to the district judge in whose custody one certificate of votes from that State has been lodged, and such judge shall forthwith transmit that list by the hand of such messenger to the seat of government.

COUNTING OF ELECTORAL VOTES

"That Congress shall be in session on the second Wednesday in February 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 in the manner and according to the rules in this act 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 three of this act 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 two of this act 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 two of this act, 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 laws; 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.

"That while the two Houses shall be in meeting as provided in this act 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.

"That 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.

"That 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 act, 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 ten 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.' (24 Stat. 373.)

SUCCESSION TO OFFICE

The act entitled "An act to provide for the performance of the duties of the office of President in case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability both of the President and Vice President," approved January 19, 1886:

"That in case of removal, death, resignation, or inability of both the President and Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of State, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Treasury, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of War, or if there be none, or in case of his

removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Attorney General, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Postmaster General, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Navy, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Interior, shall act as President until the disability of the President or Vice President is removed or a President shall be elected: Provided, That whenever the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States shall devolve upon any of the persons named herein, if Congress be not then in session, or if it would not meet in accordance with law within twenty days thereafter, it shall be the duty of the person upon whom said powers and duties shall devolve to issue a proclamation convening Congress in extraordinary session, giving twenty days' notice of the time of meeting.

SEC. 2. That the preceding section shall only be held to describe and apply to such officers as shall have been appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate to the offices therein named, and such as are eligible to the office of President under the Constitution, and not under impeachment by the House of Representatives of the United States at the time the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon them, respectively.

"SEC. 3. That sections one hundred and forty-six, one hundred and fortyseven, one hundred and forty-eight, one hundred and forty-nine, and one hundred and fifty of the Revised Statutes are hereby repealed." (24 Stat. 1.)

II. SENATORS-DATE OF ELECTION AND COMMENCEMENT OF TERMS

Section 1 of the act entitled "An act providing a temporary method of conducting the nomination and election of United States Senators," approved June 4, 1914:

"That at the regular election held in any State next preceding the expiration of the term for which any Senator was elected to represent such State in Congress, at which election a Representative to Congress is regularly by law to be chosen, a United States Senator from said State shall be elected by the people thereof for the term commencing on the fourth day of March next thereafter." (38 Stat. 384.)

III. MEMBERS OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-DATE OF ELECTION AND COMMENCEMENT OF TERMS

(1) The Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-six, is established as the day, in each of the States and Territories of the United States, for the election of Representatives and Delegates to the Forty-fifth Congress; and the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in every second year thereafter, is established as the day for the election, in each of said States and Territories, of Representatives and Delegates to the Congress commencing on the fourth day of March next thereafter. (R. S. sec. 25.) (2) That section twenty-five of the Revised Statutes prescribing the time for holding elections for Representatives to Congress, is hereby modified so as not to apply to any State that has not yet changed its day of election, and whose constitution must be amended in order to effect a change in the day of the election of State officers in said State.

[Section 6 of the act entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1875 (18 Stat. 400).]

(3) The time for holding elections in any State, District, or Territory for a Representative or Delegate to fill a vacancy, whether such vacancy is caused by a failure to elect at the time prescribed by law, or by the death, resignation, or incapacity of a person elected, may be prescribed by the laws of the several States and Territories respectively. (R. S. sec. 26.)

IV. SESSIONS OF CONGRESS

The first sentence of section 4 of the act entitled "An act to fix the day for the meeting of the electors of President and Vice President, and to provide for and regulate the counting of the votes for President and Vice President, and the decision of questions arising thereon," approved February 3, 1887:

"That Congress shall be in session on the second Wednesday in February succeeding every meeting of the electors." (24 Stat. 373.)