U.S. Code » Title 3 » Chapter CHAPTER 1— PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND VACANCIES

3 U.S.C. § 15

Counting electoral votes in Congress

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(a)In General.—Congress shall be in session on the sixth day of January succeeding every meeting of the electors. The Senate and House of Representatives shall meet in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the hour of 1 o’clock in the afternoon on that day, and the President of the Senate shall be their presiding officer.(b)Powers of the President of Senate.—(1)Ministerial in nature.—Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the role of the President of the Senate while presiding over the joint session shall be limited to performing solely ministerial duties.(2)Powers explicitly denied.—The President of the Senate shall have no power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors.(c)Appointment of Tellers.—At the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives described in subsection (a), there shall be present two tellers previously appointed on the part of the Senate and two tellers previously appointed on the part of the House of Representatives by the presiding officers of the respective chambers.(d)Procedure at Joint Session Generally.—(1)In general.—The President of the Senate shall—(A) open the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the votes of electors appointed pursuant to a certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors issued pursuant to section 5, in the alphabetical order of the States, beginning with the letter A; and(B) upon opening any certificate, hand the certificate and any accompanying papers to the tellers, who shall read the same in the presence and hearing of the two Houses.(2)Action on certificate.—(A)In general.—Upon the reading of each certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any.(B)Requirements for objections or questions.—(i)Objections.—No objection or other question arising in the matter shall be in order unless the objection or question—(I) is made in writing;(II) is signed by at least one-fifth of the Senators duly chosen and sworn and one-fifth of the Members of the House of Representatives duly chosen and sworn; and(III) in the case of an objection, states clearly and concisely, without argument, one of the grounds listed under clause (ii).(ii)Grounds for objections.—The only grounds for objections shall be as follows:(I) The electors of the State were not lawfully certified under a certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors according to section 5(a)(1).(II) The vote of one or more electors has not been regularly given.(C)Consideration of objections and questions.—(i)In general.—When all objections so made to any vote or paper from a State, or other question arising in the matter, shall have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and such objections and questions shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such objections and questions to the House of Representatives for its decision.(ii)Determination.—No objection or any other question arising in the matter may be sustained unless such objection or question is sustained by separate concurring votes of each House.(D)Reconvening.—When the two Houses have voted, they shall immediately again meet, and the presiding officer shall then announce the decision of the questions submitted. No vote or paper from any other State shall be acted upon until the objections previously made to any vote or paper from any State, and other questions arising in the matter, shall have been finally disposed of.(e)Rules for Tabulating Votes.—(1)Counting of votes.—(A)In general.—Except as provided in subparagraph (B)—(i) only the votes of electors who have been appointed under a certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors issued pursuant to section 5, or who have legally been appointed to fill a vacancy of any such elector pursuant to section 4, may be counted; and(ii) no vote of an elector described in clause (i) which has been regularly given shall be rejected.(B)Exception.—The vote of an elector who has been appointed under a certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors issued pursuant to section 5 shall not be counted if—(i) there is an objection which meets the requirements of subsection (d)(2)(B)(i); and(ii) each House affirmatively sustains the objection as valid.(2)Determination of majority.—If the number of electors lawfully appointed by any State pursuant to a certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors that is issued under section 5 is fewer than the number of electors to which the State is entitled under section 3, or if an objection the grounds for which are described in subsection (d)(2)(B)(ii)(I) has been sustained, the total number of electors appointed for the purpose of determining a majority of the whole number of electors appointed as required by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution shall be reduced by the number of electors whom the State has failed to appoint or as to whom the objection was sustained.(3)List of votes by tellers; declaration of winner.—The tellers shall make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said certificates; and the votes having been ascertained and counted according to the rules in this subchapter provided, the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons, if any, elected President and Vice President of the United States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the Journals of the two Houses.(June 25, 1948, ch. 644, 62 Stat. 675; Pub. L. 117–328, div. P, title I, § 109(a), Dec. 29, 2022, 136 Stat. 5237.)Editorial NotesAmendments

2022—Pub. L. 117–328 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section related to counting electoral votes in Congress.

Statutory Notes and Related SubsidiariesCounting of Electoral Votes

2013—Pub. L. 112–228, § 1, Dec. 28, 2012, 126 Stat. 1610, provided that: “The meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives to be held in January 2013 pursuant to section 15 of title 3, United States Code, to count the electoral votes for President and Vice President cast by the electors in December 2012 shall be held on January 4, 2013 (rather than on the date specified in the first sentence of that section).”

2009—Pub. L. 110–430, § 2, Oct. 15, 2008, 122 Stat. 4846, provided that: “The meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives to be held in January 2009 pursuant to section 15 of title 3, United States Code, to count the electoral votes for President and Vice President cast by the electors in December 2008 shall be held on January 8, 2009 (rather than on the date specified in the first sentence of that section).”

1997—Pub. L. 104–296, § 2, Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3558, provided that: “The meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives to be held in January 1997 pursuant to section 15 of title 3, United States Code, to count the electoral votes for President and Vice President cast by the electors in December 1996 shall be held on January 9, 1997 (rather than on the date specified in the first sentence of that section).”

1989—Pub. L. 100–646, Nov. 9, 1988, 102 Stat. 3341, provided: “That in carrying out the procedure set forth in section 15 of title, 3, United States Code, for 1989, ‘the fourth day of January’ shall be substituted for ‘the sixth day of January’ in the first sentence of such section.”

1985—Pub. L. 98–456, Oct. 9, 1984, 98 Stat. 1748, provided: “That, in carrying out the procedure set forth in section 15 of title 3, United States Code, for 1985, ‘the seventh day of January’ shall be substituted for ‘the sixth day of January’ in the first sentence of such section.”

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 65 cases (51 in the last 5 years), 2000–2026 · leading case: Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000).
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Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000). · cites it 8× “If this Court had allowed the State to follow the course indicated by the opinions of its own Supreme Court, it is entirely possible that there would ultimately have been no issue requiring our review, and political tension could have worked itself out in the Congress following…”
Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593 (2024). · cites it 3× “12; 3 U. S. C. § 15 . The indictment's alle- gations that Trump attempted to pressure the Vice President to take particular acts in connection with his role at the certifcation proceeding 598 TRUMP v.”
Keyes v. Bowen, 189 Cal. App. 4th 647 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010). · cites it 2× “Any investigation of eligibility is best left to each party, which presumably will conduct the appropriate background check or risk that its nominee’s election will be derailed by an objection in Congress, which is authorized to entertain and resolve the validity of objections…”
United States v. Larry Brock, 94 F.4th 39 (D.C. Cir. 2024). · cites it 3× “3 U.S.C. § 15 . At that meeting, the President of the Senate opens “all the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the electoral votes” in alphabetical order by State, and then hands the certificates to four previously appointed tellers to read them aloud in…”
United States v. Joseph Fischer, 64 F.4th 329 (D.C. Cir. 2023). · cites it 2× “n or about January 6, 2021, within the District of Columbia and elsewhere, [Fischer, Lang, and Miller] attempted to, and did, corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding, that is, a proceeding before Congress, specifically Congress’s certification of the…”
United States v. Thomas Robertson, 86 F.4th 355 (D.C. Cir. 2023). · cites it 4× “XII; 3 U.S.C § 15 (2018), amended by Consolidated Appropriations Act, 3 136 Stat.”
Berg v. Obama, 586 F.3d 234 (3rd Cir. 2009). · cites it 2× “Berg also argues that he has standing “under the Tenth Amendment because the power to determine the qualifica *241 tions of the President-elect is left to the states and the people after the Congressmen and Senators failed to object to the counting of the electoral votes”…”
Donald Trump v. Bennie Thompson, 20 F. 4th 10 (D.C. Cir. 2021). “As required by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act, 3 U.S.C. § 15 , a Joint Session of Congress convened on January 6, 2021 to certify the results of the election.”
Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593 (2024). · cites it 3× “12; 3 U. S. C. §15 . The indictment’s allegations that Trump attempted to pressure the Vice President to take particular acts in connection with his role at the certification pro- ceeding thus involve official conduct, and Trump is at least presump- tively immune from…”
Robinson v. Bowen, 567 F. Supp. 2d 1144 (N.D. Cal. 2008). · cites it 2× “3 U.S.C. § 15 . Section 15 directs that Congress shall be in session on the appropriate day to count the electoral votes, with the President of the Senate presiding.”
Muhammad Abdurrahman v. Mark Dayton, 903 F.3d 813 (8th Cir. 2018). “See 3 U.S.C. § 15 . On appeal, Abdurrahman concedes that his request for injunctive relief is moot now that Congress has counted the Minnesota elector votes.”
United States v. John Nassif, 97 F.4th 968 (D.C. Cir. 2024). “XII; 3 U.S.C. § 15 (2018), amended by Consolidated Appropriations Act, Pub.”
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