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Poisonous partisanship, closely divided and disputed elections, misgivings about the

future democratic stability of the United States.

America now and America in 1887.

In the quarter century before 1887, the United States had been driven by the Civil War,

risked partisan meddling in close elections in both 1880 and 1884, and the nation had also

been tested by a presidential election crisis in 1876 when states sent competing slates

of electors to Congress.

So finally, Congress resolved to protect the integrity of presidential elections.

In 1887, both chambers passed the Electoral Count Act.

There was just one problem.

The Electoral Count Act is a hot mess.

The law faced withering criticism from the moment it was enacted, very confused, almost

unintelligible, an ultra and unwise concession of power to the states, wrote political scientist

John Burgess in 1888.

...