Article III, Section 3 | Counting votes for key state officers

The returns of every election for the officers, named in the foregoing section, shall be sealed and transmitted to the seat of government, by the returning officers, directed to the President of the Senate, who, during the first week of the next regular session, shall open and publish them, and declare the result, in the presence of a majority of the members of each House of the General Assembly. The joint candidates having the highest number of votes cast for governor and lieutenant governor and the person having the highest number of votes for any other office shall be declared duly elected; but if any two or more have an equal and the highest number of votes for the same office or officers, one of them or any two for whom joint votes were cast for governor and lieutenant governor, shall be chosen by joint vote of both houses.