3 U.S.C. § 15 — Counting electoral votes in Congress

(a) In General — Congress must be in session on January 6 following each time the presidential electors meet. The Senate and House meet together, at 1 p.m., in the House chamber. The President of the Senate runs this joint session. (b) Powers of the President of the Senate — (1) Ministerial in nature: Except where this chapter says otherwise, the President of the Senate's role in this joint session is limited to strictly administrative tasks. (2) Powers explicitly denied: The President of the Senate cannot, alone, decide, accept, reject, or otherwise settle any dispute about which certificate of ascertainment is the right one, whether particular electors are valid, or what an elector's vote should be. (c) Appointment of Tellers — At the joint session, four tellers must be present to help count and read votes: two chosen ahead of time by the Senate, and two chosen ahead of time by the House. (d) Procedure at the Joint Session — (1) In general: The President of the Senate opens the certificates of electoral votes in alphabetical order by state, starting with the letter A. After opening each one, the President hands it to the tellers, who read it out loud to both chambers. (2) Action on each certificate: After each certificate is read, the President of the Senate asks whether anyone objects. An objection or question is only allowed if it meets three requirements: it's written down; it's signed by at least one-fifth of the sworn Senators and one-fifth of the sworn House members; and, if it's an objection, it states clearly and without argument one of two allowed grounds — either that the state's electors weren't lawfully certified under section 5(a)(1), or that one or more electors' votes weren't properly cast. If objections or questions are raised about a state's votes, the two Houses separate: the Senate debates and decides on its own, and the Speaker of the House does the same for the House. Neither an objection nor a question can succeed unless both Houses separately vote to sustain it. Once both Houses have voted, they meet again and the presiding officer announces the result. No vote or paper from any other state can be handled until every objection about the current state has been fully resolved. (e) Rules for Tabulating Votes — (1) Counting the votes: Except as described just below, only the votes of electors properly appointed under a valid certificate (or properly appointed to fill a vacancy) can be counted, and any such vote that was regularly cast cannot be thrown out. The exception: an elector's vote is not counted if there's a valid, properly-made objection to it and both Houses vote to sustain that objection. (2) Figuring out a majority: If a state appointed fewer electors than it was entitled to, or if an objection about a state's certification was sustained, then the total number of "appointed" electors used to calculate a majority (under the Twelfth Amendment) is reduced by however many electors that state failed to appoint, or whose votes were thrown out by a sustained objection. (3) Final list and declaring the winner: The tellers make a list of all the votes as shown on the certificates. Once the votes are counted following these rules, the tellers give the results to the President of the Senate, who announces the vote count. That announcement officially declares who — if anyone — was elected President and Vice President. The vote list and the announcement are both entered into the official Journals of both Houses.