[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_rZjCmUBEHftE91DeNru5KqLSSaOmvYzpnCjBdzKdLqM.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=heritage_theme\u0026include=eJwrTi1LzdNPzkksLq7Uy8tPSQUAPMsGtA"}]},{"command":"invoke","selector":null,"method":"openEssay","args":["10000080","\n\n\u003Carticle about=\u0022\/constitution\/articles\/2\/essays\/81\/presidential-vote\u0022 class=\u0022node node--type-constitution-essay node--promoted node--view-mode-embedded clearfix\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch1 class=\u0022title\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EPresidential Vote\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003C\/h1\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-location\u0022\u003E\n Article II, Section 1, Clause 4\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-context\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-body\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis clause requires that all electors vote on the same \u201cDay\u201d but allows Congress to set a multi-day range of \u201cTime\u201d for when states choose their electors. Congress has exercised this authority to set a uniform day (the Tuesday after the first Monday in November) for states to appoint electors. But Congress has also provided in the same statute that, if a state\u2019s election \u201chas failed to make a choice\u201d on that day, then the state legislature can afterward appoint electors in any manner it deems fit, thus effectively extending the \u201cTime\u201d for choosing electors.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EUnfortunately, the statutory text exercising this constitutional authority provides no criteria for deciding when an election \u201cfails to make a choice\u201d or who gets to decide when no choice was made. The historical record indicates that Congress thought this statutory language included cases where floods or inclement weather prevented \u201cany considerable number\u201d of voters from reaching the polls and that, in such cases, Congress wanted to confirm the power of the state\u2019s \u201clegislature to authorize the continuance of the elections\u201d past the congressionally prescribed election day. This legislative history indicates that an election might \u201cfail to make a choice\u201d even though there had been an election with a certifiable result, at least when that result was distorted by flooding or bad weather. It also makes clear that, at least in that circumstance, Congress contemplated that the state legislature was the entity that would decide whether the election had failed to make a choice. Unfortunately, the legislative history does not indicate what other circumstances Congress thought might mean an election failed to make a choice.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOne interpretation is that Congress contemplated that each state legislature would have the power to decide when in its judgment other problems (including perhaps a state judicial failure to follow legislative directions or resolve election contests by congressional deadlines) meant the election failed to make a choice or was distorted. Alternatively, one might narrowly interpret the \u201cfailure to make a choice\u201d language to prevent state legislatures from using dubious pretexts to reverse whatever presidential election outcomes they disliked. Arguing against the alternative interpretation is the fact that state legislative decisions (unlike judicial decisions) are political actions ultimately reviewable by the state electorate, which would be displeased if a state legislature tried to alter that electorate\u2019s presidential choice on mere pretext. Further, allowing state legislatures to make such judgments could be coupled with (possibly deferential) federal judicial review as to whether the state legislatures acted on mere pretext or with congressional review when it exercises its constitutional power to decide which electoral votes to count or both.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAnother unresolved issue is whether Congress\u2019s Twelfth Amendment power to \u201ccount\u201d electoral votes gives it discretion to refuse to count the votes of electors whom the state legislature has properly appointed. Such congressional refusal would seem to violate the Presidential Electors Clause (Article II, Section 1, Clause 2). But the action might not be judicially reviewable, in which case only the national electorate would (at the next congressional election) be able to review any such congressional decision to exceed the proper scope of its counting power.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--media\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--photo\u0022 style=\u0022background-image: url(\/sites\/default\/files\/Einer_Elhauge.jpg)\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--info\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch4 class=\u0022con-essay-author--name\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.law.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/index.html?id=16\u0022\u003EEiner Elhauge\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/h4\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--job\u0022\u003E\n Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor of Law, Harvard Law School\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-tabs\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cul data-tabs class=\u0022tabs\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000080-taba\u0022\u003EFurther Reading\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000080-tabb\u0022\u003ECase Law\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000080-tabc\u0022\u003ERelated Essays\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-content\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000080-taba\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000080-tabb\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000080-tabc\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000011\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003ESenate\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000018\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EElection Regulations\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000078\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EPresidential Electors\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000079\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EElectoral College\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000177\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EPopular Election of Senators\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n\u003C\/article\u003E\n"]}]