Volume 18 , Issue 41

History of Counting The Electoral Votes

We searched back through the archives for history of the proceedings and precedents of the past electoral college votes and found this correspondence in The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, 16 December 1876, Saturday, on page 6: "Counting The Electoral Vote."

Found on Newspapers.com

Probably nothing could be more interesting at this time than a brief account of the proceedings of the two houses or Congress in the counting of the electoral vote from the foundation of the government.

On the 6th of April, 1780, the Senate elected John Laugdon its President for the sole purpose of opening and counting the votes for President of the Untied States. The Senate appointed Mr. Patterson, one of its members, as teller, who made a list of the votes as they were declared. Gen. Washington received sixty-nine votes, the unanimous vote of all the electoral colleges. John Adams received thirty-four votes, a plurality of the votes cast, and was thereupon declared Vie-President.

In 1793 one teller was appointed on the part of the senate and two on the part of the House, who made a list of the votes and delivered them to the Vice-President, John Adams, who thereupon declared the result. Get. Washington again received the unanimous vote of the electoral college, 132 votes, and Joh Adams received 77 votes, a plurality, and both were declared re-elected to the offices of President and Vice-President of the Untied States.

In 1797 the two houses assembled in the hall of the House, having on the two prior occasions of counting the electoral vote met in the Senate chamber. Tellers were appointed by both houses, who counted the vote and delivered the result to the Vice-President, who announced it. John Adams received 71 votes, Thos. Jefferson, 68 votes; This. Pinckney, 59 votes; Aaron Burr, 30 votes; Geo. Washington, 2 votes, and a number scattering; the whole number of votes being 139. John Adams was declared elected President and Thos. Jefferson Vice-President.

IN 1801 the two houses met once more in the senate chamber, and on motion it was ordered that no person should be admitted to the galleries during the counting of the vote. The vote was, as before, counted by the tellers, and the result delivered to the president of the Senate, who announced it. The whole number of votes cast was 138. Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr each received 73 votes, John Adams 65 and Chas. C. Pinckney 64 votes. There being no choice by the electoral college the House balloted six days for a President, and on the thirty-fifth ballot Thomas Jefferson was elected, receiving the votes of ten States, to four States for Aaron Burr, and two States voted blank. Jefferson was thereupon declared President and Burr Vice-President.

In 1805 the counting took place int he senate Chamber by the tellers of the two Houses, who, having examined and ascertained the number of votes, presented the result to the president of the senate, who announced the same. Heretofore there appears to have been no separate ballot for Vice-President in the electoral college, the custom being to declare the person receiving the second highest number of votes the Vice-President. On this occasion the electors commenced to ballot separately for President and Vice-President. The total number of votes cast was 176, of which Thos. Jefferson and George Clinton received respectively 102 for President and Vice-President, and Chas. C. Pinckney and Rufus King received respectively 14 votes for the same office. Jefferson and Clinton were declared elected.

In 1813 the whole number of votes cast was 217, of which James Madison received 128 for President and Elbridge Gerry 131 for Vice-President, to 89 and 86 for DeWitt Clinton and Jared Ingersoll. The two former were declared elected.

In 1817, for the first time, objection was made to the counting of some of the electoral votes. Mr. Taylor, a member of the House from New York, objected to receiving the vote of Indiana, because he alleged that the votes of the electors of that State had been given previous to its admission to the Union. The two houses thereupon separated, and after considering the objection determined adversely to it, and on their reassembling and proceeding with the count of the vote, the vote of Indian was included. The whole number of votes cast was 217, of which James Monroe and David D. Tompkins received 183 each for President and Vice-President, and were declared elected.

In 1821 objection was made by Mr. Livermore, of New Hampshire, to the counting of the vote of Missouri, on the ground that it was not a State in the Union. The two houses separated and the motion to reject the vote of Missouri being before the House of Representatives, it was laid on the table. The two houses again assembled in the Representatives' chamber, and the counting of the vote having been concluded by the tellers, the result was handed to the president of the Senate, who announced the same. There were 235 votes cast, of which James Monroe received 231 for president, and John Quincy Adams one vote, and three votes blank. Daniel D. Tompkins received 218 votes for Vice-President, to 14 for all others. Monroe and Tompkins were thereupon declared re-elected to the offices of President and Vice-President.

1825 261 votes were cast in the electoral college. Andrew Jackson received 99 votes for President, John Quincy Adams 84 votes, Wm. H. Crawford 41 votes, and Henry Clay 37 votes. For Vice-President John C. Calhoun received 182 votes to 78 votes for all others, and was thereupon declared elected. There being no choice for President, the House on the first ballot elected John Quincy Adams, he receiving the votes of thirteen States to seven States for Andrew Jackson, and four for Wm. H. Crawford.

In 1829 the whole number of votes cast was 261, of which Andrew Jackson received 178 for President, and John C. Calhoun 171 for Vice-President. John Quincy Adams received 83 votes for Presidents nd Richard Rush 83 votes for Vice-President. Jackson and Calhoun having received a majority of all the votes were declared elected.

In 1833 the whole number of votes cast was 288. Andrew Jackson, for President, received 219 votes, Henry Clay received 49 votes, John Floyd, of Virginia, 11, and Wm. Wirt, of Maryland, 7. For Vice-President martini VanBuren received 189 votes to 97 for all others. Jackson and VanBuren were thereupon declared elected.

In 1837 the same question arose as to the legality of certain votes in the electoral college on account of certain electors holding federal offices at the time of their election as was pending in 1876. A joint committee of both houses was appointed to take the matter into consideration. In New Hampshire one of the electors was president of a deposit bank and one a postmaster. In North Carolina two of the electors were postmasters, and in Connecticut one. The committee, in their report, state that the disqualification of these parties would not affect the general result, for they did not concur in the opinion of same members of Congress that a single illegal vote in an electoral college would vitiate the whole electoral vote of the college of electors in which it was given. The committee said that they were of the opinion that the second section of the constitution, second article, which declares that "no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the Untied States shall be appointed an elector," ought to be carried in its whole spirit into rigid execution in order to prevent officers of the general government from bringing their official power to influence the elections of President and Vice-President of the United States. This provision of the constitution, it was believed, excludes and disqualifies postmasters from the appointment of electors, and the disqualification relates to the time of the appointments, and that a resignation of the office of postmaster after his appointment as elector would not entitle him to vote as elector under the constitution. Both houses of Congress by vote formally endorsed this opinion of their committee. This opinion had never been reversed, and in the light of this solemn declaration made by Congress forty years before it was a matter of doubt how any justification could be set up for an attempt to count for Hayes the votes of the Oregon and Vermont postmasters, and of the bogus electors in Louisiana, both of whom held federal appointments at the time of their election.

In 1837 the total number of electoral votes was 294, of which Martin VanBuren received 170, to 73 for Wm. H. Harrison and 51 for all others. For Vice-President Richard M. Johnson received 147 votes to 147 for all others. VanBuren having a majority of all the votes was declared President. There being no choice for Vice-President, Richard M. Johnson was elected to that office by the Senate.

In 1841 there were 297 votes cast, of which Wm. L. Harrison and John Tyler received each 231 for President and Vice-President, and were therefore declared elected.

In 1845 there were 275 votes cast, of which Jas. K. Polk and George M. Dallas received each 170 votes to 105 votes for Clay and Frelinghuyseu, and were thereupon declared elected.

In 1849 there were 299 votes cast, of which Zachariah Taylor and Millard Fillmore received 163 votes to 127 for Lewis Cast and Wm. O. Butler, and were declared elected.

In 1853 there were 296 votes cast. Franklin Pierce and Wm. R. King received 254 votes to 42 for Winfield Scott and William A. Graham, and were declared elected.

In 1857 there were 296 votes cast. James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge received 174 votes, John O. Fremont and William L. Dayton received 114 votes, and Millard Fillmore and Andrew J. Donelson 8 votes, which came from he bull-dozed State of Maryland. Buchanan and Breckinridge were therefore declared elected. Upon this occasion the tellers of the two houses submitted a written report, in which they stated the fact that the electoral vote of the State of Wisconsin was cast on the day after the day appointed by law. The Senate took no action upon the report, but in both houses there was a long debate after they separated as to the propriety of counting the vote of Wisconsin, but no conclusion was reached, for the reason, doubtless, that it did not affect the general result.

In 1861 there were 303 votes cast, of which Lincoln and Hamlin received 180, Breckenridge and Lane 72, Bell and Everett 39, and Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel B. Johnson 12. Lincoln and Hamlin having a majority of all the votes were declared elected.

In 1865 the Southern States were not represented in the electoral college and there were but 233 votes cast. Of these Lincoln and Johnson received 212 and McClellan and Pendleton 21, and the former were thereupon declared elected.

In 1869 the two houses in the counting of the vote acted for the second time under the 22d joint rule. Objection was made to the votes of Louisiana and Georgia, and the two houses separated to consider the objection. As their votes did not affect the general result they were both counted, although the count of the vote of Georgia was coupled with a proviso. Including the vote of Georgia there were 294 votes cast, of which Grant and Colfax received 214, and Seymour and Blair 80. Grant and Colfax were therefore declared elected.

In 1873 objections were made to the count of the votes of Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. The objections were sustained in the case of Louisiana and Arkansas. The whole number of electoral votes cast was 352, excluding the vote of Louisiana and Arkansas. The count was 286 for Grant and Wilson, to 66 for all others. Grant and Wilson were therefore declared elected.

As was shown in The Sun in 1876, three very important points were developed by this review of the manner of counting the electoral vote, all of which were of essential consequence at that time. First, that from 1793 down to 1873 the tellers of the two houses counted the votes and handed the result to the president of the senate, whose function consisted in merely announcing the result. Second, that long prior to the adoption of the twenty-second joint rule the two houses affirmed their right to scrutinize the electoral vote, and decide upon the reception or non-reception of the vote of a State. Third, that the two houses by formal vote established a decision which had remained unreversed and unquestioned for 40 years, that postmasters and other federal officers were not eligible to appointment as electors, and that a resignation of their offices after appointment does not remove that ineligibility. It would seem as if it would take more than any partisan ingenuity to get over these points. Indeed, a Gordian knot was presented to them which can only be cut by an entire disregard of law, custom and precedent. Mr. Ferry, the president pro ten of the Senate, had already indicated a purpose to ignore the custom and the precedent in counting the vote in the Sante chamber and dispensing with tellers.
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