HKB
Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
Federal Legislation Under This Clause
Not until 1842 did Congress undertake to exercise the power to regulate the "times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives." In that year it passed a law requiring the election of Representatives by districts.[139] Prior to that time some of the States had sought to increase their influence by electing all of their Representatives on a general ticket. The frequent deadlocks between the two Houses of State legislatures with respect to the election of Senators prompted Congress to pass a further act in 1866, which compelled the two bodies to meet in joint session on a specified day, and to meet everyday thereafter and vote for a Senator until one was elected.[140] The first comprehensive federal statute dealing with elections was adopted in 1870. Under the Enforcement Act of 1870 and kindred measures,[141] false registration, bribery, voting without legal right, making false returns of votes cast, interference in any manner with officers of election, and the neglect by any such officer of any duty required of him by State of federal law, were made federal offenses. Provision was made for the appointment by federal judges of persons to attend at places of registration and at elections with authority to challenge any person proposing to register or vote unlawfully, to witness the counting of votes, and to identify by their signatures the registration of voters and election tally sheets. After twenty-four years experience Congress repealed those portions of the Reconstruction legislation which dealt specifically with elections, but left in effect those dealing generally with Civil Rights.[142] As seen earlier, those sections have been invoked for the prosecution of election offenses which interfere with the rights of voters guaranteed by the second section of this article. The election laws, of the Reconstruction period were held invalid in part as applied to municipal elections,[143] but were found to be a constitutional exercise of the authority conferred by this section with respect to the election of members of Congress.[144]
LEGISLATURE DEFINED
While requiring the election of Representatives by districts, Congress has left it to the States to define the areas from which members should be chosen. This has occasioned a number of disputes concerning the validity of action taken by the States. In Ohio ex rel. Davis v. Hildebrant,[145] a requirement that a redistricting law be submitted to a popular referendum was challenged and sustained. After the reapportionment made pursuant to the 1930 census, deadlocks between the Governor and legislature in several States, produced a series of cases in which the right of the Governor to veto a reapportionment bill was questioned. Contrasting this function with other duties committed to State legislatures by the Constitution, the Court decided that it was legislative in character and hence subject to gubernatorial veto to the same extent as ordinary legislation under the terms of the State constitution.[146]
PRESENT INEQUALITY OF ELECTION DISTRICTS
The Reapportionment Act of 1929[147] omitted a requirement contained in the 1911 law[148] that Congressional districts be "composed of a contiguous and compact territory, * * * containing as nearly as practicable an equal number of inhabitants." Since the earlier act was not repealed it was argued that the mandate concerning compactness, contiguity and equality of population of districts was still controlling. The Supreme Court rejected this view.[149] In Colegrove v. Green,[150] the Illinois Apportionment law, which created districts now having glaringly unequal populations, was attacked as unconstitutional on the ground that it denied to voters in the more populous districts the full right to vote and to the equal protection of the laws. The Court dismissed the complaint, three Justices asserting that the issue was not justiciable, and a fourth that the case was one in which the Court should decline to exercise jurisdiction.[151] Justice Black, dissenting in an opinion in which Justices Douglas and Murphy joined, argued: "While the Constitution contains no express provision requiring that Congressional election districts established by the States must contain approximately equal populations, the constitutionally guaranteed right to vote and the right to have one's vote counted clearly imply the policy that State election systems, no matter what their form, should be designed to give approximately equal weight of each vote case. * * * legislation which must inevitably bring about glaringly unequal representation in the Congress in favor of special classes and groups should be invalidated, 'whether accomplished ingeniously or ingenuously'."[152]
CONGRESSIONAL PROTECTION OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS
Congress can by law protect the voter from personal violence or intimidation and the election itself from corruption and fraud.[153] To accomplish these ends it may adopt the statutes of the States and enforce them by its own sanctions.[154] It may punish a State election officer for violating his duty under a State law governing Congressional elections.[155] It may also punish federal officers and employees who solicit or receive contributions to procure the nomination of a particular candidate in a State primary election.[156] At one time the Court held that Congress had no power, at least prior to the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment, to limit the expenditures made to procure a primary nomination to the United States Senate,[157] but this decision has been greatly weakened, and the right of the National Government to regulate primary elections conducted under State law for the nomination of Members of Congress has been squarely recognized where such primary is made by State law "an integral part of the procedure of choice, or where in fact the primary effectively controls the choice,..."[158]
Clause 2. [The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different Day].