These are working as I intended. I am not a fan of the description offered by Adobe, and have always found them confusing -- I would invariably pick the wrong one after deliberation. Align vertical does exactly that: aligns the layer contents vertically. Align horizontal aligns on a horizontal...what could be less confusing? Certainly NOT align verticals horizontally -- as Adobe would have it described.
I stick by my choice, and the Undo be darned -- if I could change the name of that i would.
PS -- if I listened to everything Adobe had to say, many more people might still be considering Elements as a program without broader capabilities, lacking Curves, channels and other things...They usually do a great job, but there are a few things they gum up along the way.