Twelfth Amendment--Election of President

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                            TWELFTH AMENDMENT

                               __________

                          ELECTION OF PRESIDENT


  The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot
for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an
inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their
ballots the person voted for as President and in distinct ballots the
person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists
of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as
Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they
shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the
government of the United States, directed to the President of the
Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the
Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the
votes shall then be counted;--The person having the greatest number of
votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a
majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person
have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not
exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House
of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President,
the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state
having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or
members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states
shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives
shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve
upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the

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Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or
other constitutional disability of the President.--The person having the
greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President,
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.

                          ELECTION OF PRESIDENT

        This Amendment,\1\ which supersedes clause 3 of Sec. 1 of
Article II, was adopted so as to make impossible the situation occurring
after the election of 1800 in which Jefferson and Burr received tie
votes in the electoral college, thus throwing the selection of a
President into the House of Representatives, despite the fact that the
electors had intended Jefferson to be President and Burr to be Vice-
President.\2\ The difference between the procedure which it defines and
that which was laid down originally is in the provision it makes for a
separate designation by the electors of their choices for President and
Vice-President, respectively. As a consequence of the disputed election
of 1870, Congress has enacted a statute providing that if the vote of a
State is not certified by the governor under seal, it shall not be
counted unless both Houses of Congress concur.\3\

        \1\A number of provisions of the Amendment have been superseded
by the Twentieth Amendment.
        \2\Cunningham, Election of 1800, in 1 History of American
Presidential Elections 101 (A. Schlesinger ed., 1971).
        \3\3 U.S.C. Sec. 15.