An "electoral commission" was created for the occasion, composed of five
senators, five representatives, and five judges of the supreme court;
and this body decided what votes were to be counted. It was a clumsy
expedient, but infinitely preferable to civil war. The question of
conflicting returns has at length been set at rest by the act of 1887,
which provides that no electoral votes can be rejected in counting
except by the concurrent action of the two houses of Congress.
[Sidenote: Presidential succession.]
The devolution of the presidential office in case of the president's
death has also been made the subject of legislative change and
amendment. The office of vice-president was created chiefly for the
purpose of meeting such an emergency. Upon the accession of the
vice-president to the presidency, the Senate would proceed to elect its
own president _pro tempore_. An act of 1791 provided that in case of the
death, resignation or disability of both president and vice-president,
the succession should devolve first upon the president _pro tempore_ of
the Senate and then upon the speaker of the House of Representatives,
until the disability should be removed or a new election be held.
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