The Federal Contested Elections Act of 1969 (

2 U.S.C. Title 2 of the United States Code outlines the role of Congress in the United States Code. Chapter 1 — Election of Senators and Representatives * — Time for election of Senators * — Election to be certified by governor * ...

§§ 381 '' et seq.'') signed into law by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

on December 5, 1969 provides a procedure for candidates to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

to contest

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

s by filing with the

Clerk of the House The clerk, chief clerk, or secretary of a legislative chamber is the senior administrative officer responsible for ensuring that its business runs smoothly. This may encompass keeping custody of documents lain before the house, received, or produ ...

. The law delegates all matters involving contested

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

s first to the Committee on House Administration, which receives jurisdiction of such matters by the rules of the House.

Constitutional basis

Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution states: "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members". As a result, the House or Senate have final authority to decide a contested election, superseding even a

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

or court. Court cases have held that House decisions of contested elections cannot be

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

ed to the courts, not even the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, as they are political in nature.''Roudebush v. Hartke'', 405 U.S. 15, 18 (1972), available a
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/ref>The Supreme Court said in ''

Baker v. Carr ''Baker v. Carr'', 369 U.S. 186 (1962), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that redistricting qualifies as a justiciable question under the Fourteenth Amendment, thus enabling federal courts to hear Fourteen ...

'', 369 U.S. 186, 217 (1962) that " ominent on the surface of any case held to involve a political question is found a textually demonstrable constitutional commitment of the issue to a coordinate political department"
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In the Supreme Court case of 1969, ''

Powell v. McCormack ''Powell v. McCormack'', 395 U.S. 486 (1969), is a United States Supreme Court case that held that the Qualifications of Members Clause of Article I of the US Constitution is an exclusive list of qualifications of members of the House of Repre ...

'', a precedent was set with regard to the meaning of "qualifications", resulting in the finding that Representative Powell had been wrongfully excluded from his seat.

Initiating examination of a contested election

The law explains the process: the filing of a notice of contest by the loser of the election, the taking of testimony from witnesses, and the holding of hearings on the depositions and papers filed with the Clerk of the House . The burden of proof lies on the challenger to produce sufficient evidence to change the outcome of the election. An examination of a contested election may also be initiated by any member on the floor who wishes to challenge the legitimacy of another member's taking of the oath of office. The challenge begins in the form of a

resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

. It is then referred to the Committee on House Administration for review. Individual electors from the state in question may also petition the House for a review of the election.

From Committee to House

After the Committee completes its examination of the election, it issues a report to the full House, in the form of a resolution with recommendations. The House then adopts or rejects this resolution by a majority vote. The precedents of the House state that the resolution can: *dismiss the challenge *declare which candidate is entitled to the seat *assert that no one should be seated pending the completion of an investigation *call for a new election to be held *refute the challenger as not qualified to contest the election *provide reimbursement for the contestants from the contingency fund of the House for costs incurred in the contested election process. Recounts are undertaken if the election loser can show he has exhausted all appeals in the state courts under state law. However, the House has sometimes declined to order a recount if the state supreme court has already conducted one. The resolution containing the Committee's recommendations is debated in the House. Amending is possible, but difficult. The resolution is subject to a motion to recommit (sending it back to committee) with instructions from the House to take further action. Adoption or defeat is by a majority vote of those present. Prior to the '' Dornan v. Sanchez'' contest of a 1996 election, the House last considered a contested election in 1985: '' McIntyre v. McCloskey'' in the Indiana's 8th congressional district. While the State of Indiana certified the Republican, McIntyre, as the winner of the election, the House voted to seat the Democratic challenger, Frank McCloskey. A House-ordered recount gave McCloskey a 4-vote margin of victory.

Standards of adjudication

The statute says little about the substantive standards for judging a notice of contest.2 U.S.C. § 383(b) Under the law, the candidate contesting the election must file a notice of contest within thirty days of state certification of the election results.2 U.S.C. § 382(a) The only substantive requirements for the notice are that the contestant must "state grounds sufficient to change heresult of heelection" and must "claim heright to he seat" in Congress. The then has thirty days either to file an answer or to move for dismissal. The burden of proof rests with the contestant, who "must overcome the presumption of the regularity of an election, and its results, evidenced by the certificate of election presented by the ." The law also sets forth procedures for an adversarial system of taking depositions and other discovery. Traditionally, the Committee on House Administration appoints a bipartisan three-member task force to investigate and report on proceedings under the law. Generally, the task force investigates the contest and makes a recommendation to the Committee on House Administration, which then issues a report and sends a resolution to the full House regarding the disposition of the contest. "The committee may recommend, and the House may approve by a simple majority vote, a decision affirming the right of the to the seat, may seat the contestant, or find that neither party is entitled to be finally seated and declare a vacancy."See CRS Rerport at CRS-14

References

External links

*https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/2/381.html *, {{DEFAULTSORT:Federal Contested Election Act Of 1969 United States House of Representatives United States federal election legislation 1969 in American law