§ 15. — Counting electoral votes in Congress.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 3USC15]
TITLE 3--THE PRESIDENT
CHAPTER 1--PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND VACANCIES
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 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, 62 Stat. 675.)
Counting of Electoral Votes
1996--Pub. L. 104-296, Sec. 2, Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3558,
provided that: ``The meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives
to be held in January 1997 pursuant to section 15 of title 3, United
States Code, to count the electoral votes for President and Vice
President cast by the electors in December 1996 shall be held on January
9, 1997 (rather than on the date specified in the first sentence of that
section).''
1989--Pub. L. 100-646, Nov. 9, 1988, 102 Stat. 3341, provided:
``That in carrying out the procedure set forth in section 15 of title,
3, United States Code, for 1989, `the fourth day of January' shall be
substituted for `the sixth day of January' in the first sentence of such
section.''
1985--Pub. L. 98-456, Oct. 9, 1984, 98 Stat. 1748, provided: ``That,
in carrying out the procedure set forth in section 15 of title 3, United
States Code, for 1985, `the seventh day of January' shall be substituted
for `the sixth day of January' in the first sentence of such section.''
