From Wikipedia: Electoral Count Act

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The Electoral Count Act of 1887 Pub.L. 49–90, 24 Stat. 373 is a United States federal law establishing procedures for the counting of electoral votes by Congress following a presidential election. The law has subsequently been codified, with some modifications, into positive law in Title 3, Chapter 1 of the United States Code, which also contains other provisions related to presidential elections and vacancies. The law was enacted in the aftermath of the disputed 1876 presidential election, in which several states submitted competing slates of electors and a divided Congress was unable to resolve the deadlock.

The law has been criticized since it was enacted, with an early commenter describing it as "very confused, almost unintelligible.":643 Modern commenters have stated that the law "invites misinterpretation," observing that it is "turgid and repetitious" and that "[i]ts central provisions seem contradictory.":543 For example, one key ambiguity in Section 4 (now 3 U.S.C. § 15) involves a situation where multiple slates of electors are sent from a state, and the House and Senate cannot agree whether the law requires the slate certified by the governor to count, or requires that no slate should be counted.