Chap. 148.-An ACT to amend and re-enact an act to provide for the
registration of voters in cities having a population of fifty thousand
or more, approved March 2, 1922. [H B 97]

Approved March 29, 1923.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
an act to provide for the registration of voters in cities having
a population of fifty thousand or more, approved March second,
nineteen hundred and twenty-two, be amended so as to read as
follows:

Section 1. The electoral board of each city having a popula-
tion of fifty thousand or more may, in its discretion, prior to the
first day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, and every
alternate year thereafter, appoint a general registrar for such
city, who shall be a discreet citizen and resident of the city for
which he is appointed, and such registrar shall not hold any
other office, by election or appointment during his term. Said
registrar shall hold office for two years from the first day of
May following his appointment, and until his successor is duly
qualified, except as provided in section six of this act. The ap-
pointment of such general registrar shall be in addition to the
office of registrar in each election district in such city now pro-
vided for by law, except that in cities of more than fifty thou-
sand and less than sixty thousand inhabitants the appointment
of such general registrar shall automatically abolish the office
of registrar in each election district in such city now provided
for by law and except that in cities of more than one hundred
and seventy thousand inhabitants, the appointment of such
general registrar shall automatically abolish the office of regis-
tray in each election district in such city, now provided for by
law, as of the date this amendatory act of nineteen hundred and
twenty-three takes effect, if such appointment has heretofore
been made, or as of the date of such appointment, if thereafter
made. Each of such registrars mentioned in the preceding
sentence, upon the appointment of the general registrar provided
for in this act, or the abolition of his office, shall deliver to said
registrar all books, papers, and documents pertaining to their
respective offices.

Section 2. Such general registrar, subject to the approval
of the electoral board, may appoint such assistants as may be
necessary for the performance of the duties of his office, and
said assistants are hereby authorized to do all things necessary
for the registration of qualified voters, and their compensation
shall be fixed and paid as the compensation and salaries of other
city officers are fixed and paid.

Section 3. It shall be the duty of said general registrar to
maintain in the city hall, or other municipal building, of the
city for which he is appointed, an office wherein all qualified

voters of such city may be registered.

| Section 4. Such general registrar shall keep separate regis-
tration books-for each election district in said city, and, except

as otherwise provided in this act, perform all of the duties now

required by law to be performed by the registrars of the election

districts of said city.

Section 5. The city for which he is appointed shall furnish
the general registrar a suitable office in the city hall, or other
municipal building, of said city. All fees collected by the general
registrar, or any of his assistants, shall be paid into the city
treasury, and the council of the city shall allow said general
registrar an annual salary for performing the duties required
of him.

Section 6. If any electoral board shall appoint a general
registrar in pursuance of this act, it may, at the expiration of
the term of any such general registrar, abolish such office by
declining to appoint a successor and giving notice of such in-
tention to the incumbent, if any, in which event the preceding
sections of this act shall cease to be operative in such city, and
the registration of voters in such city thereafter shall in all
respects conform to the general law (other than this act) then
in force.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.