Electoral Count Act

rdf:langString Electoral Count Act

rdf:langString Electoral Count Act of 1887

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rdf:langString Bush v. Gore

rdf:langString 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.

rdf:langString Prohibition or constraint on a current Congress by an earlier Congress

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rdf:langString The Electoral Count Act of 1887 (ECA) (Pub.L. 49–90, 24 Stat. 373, later codified at Title 3, Chapter 1) is a United States federal law adding to procedures set out in the Constitution of the United States for the counting of electoral votes following a presidential election. The Act was enacted by Congress in 1887, ten years after the disputed 1876 presidential election, in which several states submitted competing slates of electors and a divided Congress was unable to resolve the deadlock for weeks. Close elections in 1880 and 1884 followed, and again raised the possibility that with no formally established counting procedure in place, partisans in Congress might use the counting process to force a desired result. The Act aims to minimize congressional involvement in election disputes, instead placing the primary responsibility to resolve disputes upon the states. The Act sets out procedures and deadlines for the states to follow in resolving disputes, certifying results, and sending the results to Congress. If a state follows these "safe harbor" standards and the state's governor properly submits one set of electoral votes, the Act states that this "final" determination "shall govern." However, making or use of "any false writing or document" in the implementation of this procedure is a felony punishable by 5 years imprisonment by 18 U.S. Code 1001 under Chapter 47 Fraud and False Statements. The Act thus relegates Congress to resolving only a narrow class of disputes, such as if a governor has certified two different slates of electors or if a state fails to certify its results under the Act's procedures. Congress may also reject votes under the Act for other specific defects, such as ministerial error, if an elector or candidate is ineligible for office, or if the electoral college votes were not "regularly given." The central provisions of the law have not been seriously tested in a disputed election. Since the bill was enacted, some have doubted whether the Act can bind a future Congress. Since the Constitution gives Congress the power to set its own procedural rules, it is possible that simple majorities of the House and Senate could set new rules for the joint session convened to count electoral votes. In the contentious 2000 U.S. presidential election, the law's timing provisions did play a role in court decisions, such as Bush v. Gore. The law has been criticized since it was enacted, with an early commenter describing it as "very confused, almost unintelligible." Modern commenters have stated that the law "invites misinterpretation", observing that it is "turgid and repetitious", and that "[i]ts central provisions seem contradictory." Under the Twelfth Amendment, the vice president (as President of the Senate) opens the electoral certificates. The act clarifies the vice president's limited role in the count. Both houses can overrule the vice president's decision to include or exclude votes, and under the Act even if the chambers disagree, the governor's certification, not the vice president, breaks the tie. On many occasions, the vice president has had the duty of finalizing his party's defeat, and his own on some of those occasions. Richard Nixon, Walter Mondale, Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Cheney, Joe Biden, and Mike Pence all notably presided over counts that handed them, or their party, a loss.