Chap. 279.—An ACT to Amend and Re-enact Sections 89, 40, and 58, of an
Act Entitled an Act to Provide for a General Election, Approved May 11,
1870, as Amended and Re-enacted by an Act Approved July 11, 1870.

Approved March 30, 1871.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
‘sections thirty-nine, forty, and fifty-eight, of an act entitled an
act to provide for a general election, approved May eleventh,
eivhteen hundred and seventy, as amended and re enacted by
an act approved July eleventh, eighteen hundred and seventy,
be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Ҥ 39. After canvassing the votes in the manner aforesaid,
the judges, before they adjourn, shall put under cover one of
the poll books, seal the same, and direct it to the county or
corporation court clerk of the county or corporation (as the
case may be) in which the election is held; and the poll book
thus sealed and directed, (together with the ballots strung as
aforesaid, enclosed and sealed.) shall be conveyed by one of
the judges, to be determined by lot, if they cannot otherwise
agree, to the clerk to whom they are directed, on the day tol-
lowing the election, and the other poll book shall be deposited
with the clerk of the township in which the election is held,
or, if in atown or acity having a corporation court, to the
office of the mayor of such town or city, there to remain for
the use of the persons who may choose to inspect the same.
The clerk to whom the ballots are delivered as afuresaid, shall
deposit the same in his oflice without breaking the seal, where
they shall be safely kept for twelve months; and he shall not
allow the same to be inspected, unless in cases of contested
elections, or unless the same become necessary to be used in
evidence, and then only on the order of the proper court or
officer. If, from any cause, the judges of election shall fail to
make return, as provided by this section, within the time lim-
ited by the fortieth section of this act for the commissioners to
meet and open the returns, it shall be the duty of the clerk to
whose office such returns ought to have been made, to dispatch
a special messenger to obtain such returns; who shall be sub-
ject to the same penalties, and entitled to the same compensa-
tion as a judge of election for such service.

“$40. It shall be the duty of the county and corporation
courts, in the order appointing the judges of election for their
respective counties and corporations, to designate five of the
persons 80 appointed, to act as commissioners, three of which
said commissioners, when so designated, shall constitute a
board (of which the clerk of the court so appointing shall ex-
officio be clerk), whose duty it shall be to meet at the clerk’s
office of the county or corporation for which they are ap-
pointed, on the second day after any election held therein (Sun-
day excepted), and proceed to open the several returns which
shall have been made at that office; and the said commis-
sioners shall determine the persons who have received the
greatest number of votes in the county or corporation for the
several offices voted for in such election. Such determination
shall be reduced to writing, and signed by said commissioners,
and ‘attested by the clerk, and shal! be annexed to the abstract
of ‘votes given for such oflicers, respectively, hereinafter pro-
vided for in the forty-second section of this act. If, from any
cause, the number of commissioners in attendance at the time
and place for opening returns, be less than three, it shall be
lawful for the commissioner or commissioners in attendance to
select from among the voters of the county or corporation (as
the case may be), one or more persons having the qualifications
of judges of election, who shall act as commissioner or com-
missioners. Should all the commissioners appointed for any
county or corporation fail to attend at the time and place for
opening returns, it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace
of the county, or the mayor, if the failure occur in a city or
town, to appoint from among the voters of the county or cor-
poration (as the case may be), three persons having tke qualifi-
cations of judges of election, who shall act as commissioners:
provided, that the judges of the county and corporation courts,
in term or vacation, shall have power to fill vacancies in such
appointments in their respective counties and corporations
whenever necessary to do so. Any person appointed under
this section to fill a vacancy in the board of commissioners,
shall, before entering upon the discharge of his duties as com-
missioner, take an oath before some one authorized to admin-
ister oaths, to faithfully discharge his duties as commissioner ;
and when so sworn, shall have all the power and authority, and
be subject to all the penalties of a judge of election appointed
for that purpose by the proper court. The fact of the appoint-
ment being made, and the oath taken, shall be noted by the
clerk at the foot of the abstract of votes provided for in the
forty-second section of this act.”

Ҥ 58. Writs of election to fill vacancies in county, corpo-
ration, and township offices, shall be issued by the judges of
the county or corporation courts of the counties or corpora-
tions in which such vacancies occur, so that vacancies in county
offices shall be filled at the next November election after such
vacancies occur; and vacancies in corporation and township
offices, at the next May election after such vacancies occur;
the term of office of all county officers elected under this sec-
tion, shall commence on the first day of January next succeed-
ing their election; and the term of office of all corporation and
township officers elected under this section, shall commence on
the first day of July next succeeding their election: provided,
however, that when a vacancy occurs in any county office, the
same shall be temporarily filled by the judge of the county
court in which such vacancy occurs: and provided fur-
ther, that when a vacancy occurs in the office of circuit court
clerk, when the clerk of the county court is not clerk of the
circuit court, such vacancy shall be temporarily filled by the
judge of the court in which such vacancy occurs: and provided
further, that when a vacancy occurs in the office of hustings
court clerk, or attorney for the commonwealth for a city or
town, such vacancy shall be filled temporarily by the judge of
the hustings court of the city or town in which such vacancy
occurs: and provided further, that when a vacancy occurs in
the office of clerk of the chancery court of the city of Rich-
mond, such vacancy shall be temporarily filled by the judge
thereof; and all officers so appointed to fill vacancies, shall
qualify and give bond (when a bond is required), within thirty
days after their appointment, and shall continue to discharge
the duties of their respective offices until their successors,
elected under this section, shall have qualified.”

2, This act shall be in force from its passage.