PROVISIONS OF THE Constitution of the United States Relating to Elections. ARTICLE I. Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. (Par. 1.) No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. (Par. 2.) *** The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and with every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative. * * * (Par. 3.) When vacancies happen in the representation from any State the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. (Par. 4.) Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. (Par. 1.) Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year; so that onethird may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation or otherwise during the recess of the Legislature of any State, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies. (Par. 2.) No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State from which he shall be chosen. (Par. 3.) Section 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators. (Par. 1.) Sec. 5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members. (Par. 1.) Sec. 8. The Congress shall have power ***To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization *** throughout the United States. (Par. 4.) ARTICLE II. Section 1. The executive power shall be invested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the VicePresident, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows: (Par. 1.) Each State shall appoint in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress; but no Senator or Representative or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States shall be appointed an elector. (Par. 2.) Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall, 419; Leitensdorfer v. Webb, 20 How., 176. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States. (Par. 3.) ARTICLE VI. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. (Par. 3.) TWELFTH AMENDMENT. 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 the 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 for all persons voted for as VicePresident, and 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 vote shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such a majority then from the persons having the highest number, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing 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 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 of 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. FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT. Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor to deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Sec. 2. Representatives shall be appointed among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. Sec. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a Member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House remove such disability. Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this Article. FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT. Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Sec. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation. ARTICLE XVII Of the Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. (The XVII Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States by the 62d Congress on May 16, 1912, and the Secretary of State announced on May 31, 1913, that it had been ratified by the Legislatures of 36 of the 48 States.) "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislatures. "When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. Provided, that the Legislature of any State may empower the executive there |