After the College met on December 6 to cast its votes, Congress still had to convene and count them. At this point the dispute became impossibly arcane because of the nebulous wording of the Twelfth Amendment. It provided for the counting of electoral votes, and the legal and constitutional status of congressional joint rules, which allowed challenges to the electoral votes. Were the rules constitutional? Were they even in force if, as was the case, the Senate had repealed them but the House had not? Would the election be decided by having the president of the Senate, Rep. Thomas Ferry of
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