[3] This provision was designed, first, to prevent fraud in voting; and second to leave each state free to act as it thought best in the matter of persons for the offices, unbiased by the probability of success or failure which would be shown if the elections occurred on different days in different states.
It may be desirable to know in this connection that:
The president of the senate sends for missing votes, if there be any, on the fourth Monday in January.
The counting of votes is begun on the second Wednesday in February and continued until the count is finished. (See page 334.)
In case the electors have not given any one a majority for the presidency, the house proceeds at once to elect. In a similar case the senate proceeds at once to choose a vice-president.
The provisions of the continental congress for the first election were:
1. Electors to be chosen, first Wednesday in January, 1789.
2. Electors to vote, first Wednesday in February.
3. The presidential term to commence first Wednesday in March. The first Wednesday in March in 1789 was the fourth day of the month, and on that day the presidential terms have continued to begin.
_Clause 5.—Qualifications of President and Vice-President.