is entitled to a number of electors equal to the number of its
representatives in Congress, _plus_ two, the number of its
senators. Thus to-day Delaware, with 1 representative, has 3 electors;
Missouri, with 14 representatives, has 16 electors; New York, with
34 representatives, has 36 electors. No federal senator or
representative, or any person holding civil office under the United
States, can serve as an elector. Each state may appoint or choose its
electors in such manner as it sees fit; at first they were more often
than otherwise chosen by the legislatures, now they are always elected
by the people. The day of election must be the same in all the states.

By an act of Congress passed in 1792 it is required to be within 34 days
preceding the first Wednesday in December. A subsequent act in 1845
appointed the Tuesday following the first Monday in November as election
day.

By the act of 1792 the electors chosen in each state are required to
assemble on the first Wednesday in December at some place in the state
which is designated by the legislature. Before this date the governor of
the state must cause a certified list of the names of the electors to be
made out in triplicate and delivered to the electors. Having met
together they vote for president and vice-president, make out a sealed
certificate of their vote in triplicate, and attach to each copy a copy
of the certified list of their names. One copy must be delivered by a
messenger to the president of the Senate at the federal capital before
the first Wednesday in January; the second is sent to the same officer
through the mail; the third is to be deposited with the federal judge of
the district in which the electors meet. If by the first Wednesday in
January the certificate has not been received at the federal capital,
the secretary of state is to send a messenger to the district judge and
obtain the copy deposited with him. The interval of a month was allowed
to get the returns in, for those were not the days of railroad and
telegraph. The messengers were allowed twenty-five cents a mile, and
were subject to a fine of a thousand dollars for neglect of duty. On the
second Wednesday in February, Congress is required to be in session, and
the votes received are counted and the result declared.[12]

[Footnote 12: See note on p. 278.]

[Sidenote: The twelfth amendment (1804).]
At first the electoral votes did not state whether the candidates named
in them were