Chap. 158.—An ACT to Authorize the Qualified Voters of the County of
Hanover to Vote on the Question of Removing the County Courthouse
to the Town of Ashland. .

Approved March 2], 1871.

Whereas, numerous citizens of the county of Hanover have
memorialized the general assembly of Virginia that the sense
of the people of the said county should be taken upon the
change of the location of the courthouse of said county: there-
fore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be the duty of the officers conducting elections in the
county of Hanover, at the time and places for holding the first
election hereafter, held for township officers in said county, to
prepare a separate ballot box, in which sball be deposited the
ballots of the qualified voters who shall desire to vote upon
the question of said removal. The said ballots shall be re-
spectively as follows:

For the town of Ashland.

For the present location.

Each ballot cast which shall have written or printed thereon,
“for the town of Ashland,” shall be deemed and taken as a
vote for the removal of the seat of justice of the county of
Hanover to the town of Ashland; and each ballot having
written or printed thereon, “for the present location,” shall be
taken as a vote against the removal of said seat of justice.
The officers conducting said election shall receive the ballots
of every person applying to vote, who shall be qualified, ac-
cording to the constitution and laws of this commonwealth,
to vote for the officers then to be elected, and shall keep said
polls open as long as the polls for the election of said officers
shall be kept open, and shall proceed with, certify, and return
the same to the clerk of the county court of the said county
of Hanover in the same manner, and shall be liable to the same
penalties for neglect and failure therein, as prescribed by law
in relation to the officers then to be elected: provided, how-
ever, that the failure of the said officers, conducting the said
election, to keep separate poll books, or to return and certify
the said vote upon such poll books, shall not affect the legality
of said election, upon the question of said removal of said seat
of justice, but said return may be made on paper, or some
other convenient manner, in writing or figures.

2. It shall be the duty of the officers conducting said elec-
tion to meet at the clerk’s office of the county court of said
county, on Tuesday next succeeding said election, and then
and there proceed in the presence of each other, to scrutinize,
purge and correct the ballots taken on the subject of the re-
moval of the said seat of justice, and decide upon the legality
or illegality of the ballots so taken; and they shall have power
to sit from day to day, until their duties shall have been dis-
charged; and having stricken therefrom such ballots as in the
opinion of a majority of said officers may have been illegally
voted, said officers shall count the ballots which remain un-
stricken, and shall verify the same by taking and. subscribing,
before some officer authorized to administer oaths in the county
of Hanover, an affidavit to the following effect: we do hereby
make oath that we have carefully examined the ballots in the
boxes cast upon the question of the removal of the seat of
justice of Hanover county and that we have stricken therefrom
no ballots which, in the opinion of the majority of us, were
properly cast, and that no ballots remain, which a majority of
1s concur in believirig are not entitled so to be, according to
the provisions of this act. Sworn to before me this

day of eighteen hundred and seventy-one.
And it shall be the duty of said officers to return the said
counted ballots, so verified, to the clerk of the county court of
Hanover, to be preserved by him in his office; and the said
officers shall at the same time certify to the county court,
which of the locations aforesaid received the largest number of
ballots. If the town of Ashland shall have received the largest
number of votes, and the votes cast for the said town of Ash-
land shall be equal to three-fifths of the votes actually cast at
said election, then the said town of Ashland shall be, to all
intents and purposes, the place of holding court in the county
of Hanover, and for conducting the business incident thereto,
from and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and
seventy-two.

3. When it shall be ascertained that a majority of the votes
cast at the said election, were in favor of the said removal of
the seat of justice of Hanover county to the town of Ashland,
if the vote cast for said removal be equal to three-fifths of the
votes actually cast at said election, the board of supervisors
for the county of Hanover, shall immediately proceed to select
and acquire by purchase or othervyise, a suitable lot in the
town of Ashland, not exceeding five acres, for the site of the
new seat of justice, and shall cause a courthouse, clerk’s office
and other necessary public buildings and fixtures to be erected
thereon, as soon thereafter as practicable.

4. That said board of supervisors shall cause to be conveyed
to them and to their successors in office, by good and sufficient
deed for the use and benefit of said county, the said lot or par-
cel of land acquired as aforesaid, and shall sell, upon such terms
as it may deem proper, the land and appurtenances now occu-
pied as the site of the seat of justice for the said county, and
appropriate the proceeds of said sale towards defraying the
expenses of procuring the land and erecting the aforesaid
buildings, herein required to be erected, at the new seat of
justice: provided, that if said board of supervisors shall deem
it advisable to have the buildings and fixtures at the present
seat of justice, or any part thereof removed to the site of the
new seat of justice, the said board is hereby authorized and
empowered to have the same so removed.

8. The board of supervisors of said county of Hanover is
hereby authorized and empowered to make a levy or levies
for such sum or sums of money as may be required to defray
the expenses of removing said seat of justice of Hanover
county under the provisions of this act; but the amount ne-
cessary to be raised for the purpose of defraying the expenses
of said removal shall be so levied as to be collectible in three
equal instalments—one-third in the year eighteen hundred and
seventy-one, one-third in eighteen hundred and seventy-two,
and the remaining third in eighteen hundred and seventy-three.

6. This act shall be in force trom its passage.