Chap. 11.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 125 and 129 of the Code of
Virginia, 1887, in relation to receiving and canvassing ballots and names of
voters entered on poll-books.

Approved July 28, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
one hundred and twenty-five and one hundred and twenty-nine of the
Code of Virginia, eighteen hundred and ecighty-seven, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 125. Where ballot-box kept; how ballots received, and names of
voters entered on poll-books.—The ballot-box shall be kept in public view
during all elections. The judge to whom any ballot is delivered shall,
upon the receipt thereof, pronounce in an audible voice the name of the
person from whom the ballot is received, and if his name is found on the
registration book, and there be no objection made, the said judge shall,
without opening the said ballot or permitting it to be examined (except
to ascertain whether it is a single ballot), deposit the same in the ballot-
box, whereupon the name of the elector shall be checked on the registra-
tion book by one of the judges, and entered by the clerks of election on
the poll book, and correctly numbered: provided, that when a registered
voter has changed his place of residence from one election district to
another in the same county, if he has a certificate showing that he was
duly registered in his former election district in said county, and that his
name has, since his removal, been erased from the registration books of said
election district, it shall be sufficient evidence to entitle him to vote in
the district in which he resides, and his name shall be registered on the
registration book by the registrar if he be present, or by one of the judges
of election if he be not present: provided, further, that no person who
removes from one city or county to another city or county in this State
shall be allowed to vote at any election therein without having first regis-
tered upon his transfer at the time and in the modes prescribed in gec-
tions seventy-eight and eighty of the Code of eighteen hundred and
eighty-seven; and provided, further, that in cities or towns containing
over two thousand inhabitants the name of such person shall not be en-
tered by the judge, but only by the registrar, prior to or on the days
named in section seventy-eight of the Code.

§ 129. How votes canvassed.—The canvass shall commence by taking
out of the box the ballots unopened—not in secret, but in the presence of
at least two representatives from each political party represented. in the
election, if such representatives request the judges of election to be
present when the ballots are taken from the box, and said representative
shall be entitled to be present and witness the count of the ballots and
the making up of the returns as hereinafter provided in this section and
section one hundred and thirty of the Code; and the judges of election
shall at once proceed to examine and count the ballots to ascertain if any
double ballots have been cast, and whether the number of ballots cor-
responds with the number of names on the poll-books; and if two or more
separate ballots are found so folded together as to present the appearance
of a single ballot, they shall be laid aside until the count of the ballots is
completed. If, upon a comparison of the said count the number of
names of electors on the poll-books, it appears that the two or more
ballots thus folded together were cast by the same elector, they shall be
destroyed. If the ballots in the box are found to exceed the number of
names on the poll-books, all ballots shall be replaced in the ballot-box;
and after the same shall be well shaken, one of the judges of election, be-
ing blindfolded, shall draw therefrom a sufficient number of ballots to
reduce the same to a number equal to the number of names of electors on
the poll-books. The number of ballots being thus made to agree with
the number of names on the poll-books, the books shall be signed by the
judges and attested by the clerks; and the number of names thereon shall
be set down in words and figures at the foot of the list of electors on the
poll-books and over the signatures of the judges and attestations of the
clerks in the manner and form prescribed by section one hundred and
twenty. Whenever the number of ballots is reduced by destruction of
fraudulent ballots below the number of the names of electors on the poll-
books, the cause of such reduction shall be stated at the foot of the list
of electors on the poll-books before the same are signed and attested by
the judges and clerks respectively.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.