Chap. 274.——An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 5 and 6 of an act entitled
“An Act to provide a new charter for the city of Alexandria, Virginia.”, ap-
proved March 24, 1932, relating to the composition of the council, to provide
for a special election to determine whether the composition of the council shall
be under the council at large plan or the council by ward plan. [H 205]

Approved March 17, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections five and six of an act entitled “An Act to pro-
vide a new charter for the city of Alexandria, Virginia.”, approved
March twenty-four, nineteen hundred thirty-two, be amended and
re-enacted, as follows:

Section 5. The composition of the council shall be one of the
two following plans subject to the choice of the electorate of the
city to be determined at a special election to be hereinafter pro-

vided:
COUNCIL AT LARGE PLAN

Under this plan, on and after September one, nineteen hundred
forty-four, the council shall consist of seven members, who shall
be elected at large from the qualified voters of the city and they
shall serve for a term of three years from the first day of September
next following the date of their election and until their successors
have been elected and qualify; provided that at the first election
held in nineteen hundred forty-four, four councilmen shall be
elected for a term of two years and the three present councilmen
elected at large, whose terms expire August thirty-one, nineteen
hundred forty-six, shall continue in office until the expiration of
their terms and until their successors are elected and qualify, and
the present presiding officer of the council and ex-officio mayor
and the present vice-president of the council shall continue to serve
as such until the expiration of their present terms. The council
shall be a continuing body and no measure pending before it shall
abate or be discontinued by reason of the expiration of the term
of office or removal of the members of the body or any of them.
In case of a vacancy arising in the office of councilman, it shall be
the duty of the council to certify same to the judge of the Corpora-
tion Court, who shall issue his writ for an election to fill the vacancy
in the manner prescribed by the general election laws of the State;
provided that at the first election held in nineteen hundred and
forty-four, candidates for the council may file the notice of candi-
dacy required by section one hundred fifty-four of the Code thirty
days before such election, and the ballots to be used at such election
shall be printed as soon as may be practicable after the secretary of
the electoral board has been officially notified of the names of the
candidates in such election. :

On and after September one, nineteen hundred forty-six, the
member of council elected at the election to be held in nineteen
hundred forty-six who receives the largest popular vote shall be the
president and presiding officer of the council and ex-officio mayor of the
city, and the member of council receiving the next largest popular vote
shall be the vice-president of the council, to act in place of the president
in his absence, or incapacity, or resignation as president of the council
and mayor; and shall succeed the presiding officer in the event of a
vacancy in his office, in which event the members of council shall elect
one of their number to serve as vice-president.

The president or mayor shall have the same powers and duties as
other members of the council, with a vote, but no veto, and shall be the
official head of the city.

COUNCIL BY WARD PLAN

Under this plan, on and after September one, nineteen hundred
forty-four, the council shall consist of nine members, six of whom shall
be elected, one from each of the six wards of the city and three at large
and the members of the council elected from each ward shall serve for a
term of two years from the first day of September next following the
date of their election and until their successors have been elected and
qualify, and the councilmen elected at large shall serve for a term of
three years from the first day of September next following the date of
their election and until their successors shall have been elected and
qualify; provided that at the first election held in nineteen hundred
forty-four, only the six members, one from each ward, shall be elected
and the present three members of the council whose terms do not expire
until the thirty-first day of August, nineteen hundred forty-six, shall be
the members of the council at large until the expiration of their terms
and until their successors are elected and qualify, and the present pre-
siding officer of the council and ex-officio mayor shall continue to serve
until the expiration of his term as such and after September first, nine-
teen hundred forty-six, the member of the council elected at large at the
election to be held in nineteen hundred forty-six for members of the
council to sttcceed the present members whose terms expire on the thirty-
first day of August, nineteen hundred forty-six, who receives the largest
popular vote shall be the president and presiding officer of the council
and ex-officio mavor of the city and it shall then also be the duty of the
council to elect another member to be vice-president of the council to act
in place of the president in his absence or incapacity. The mayor shall
have the same power and duties as other members of the council with a
vote, but no veto, and shall be the official head of the city. Provided that
at the first election held in nineteen hundred and forty-four candidates
for the council may file the notice of candidacy required by section one
hundred fifty-four of the Code thirty days before such election, and the
ballots to be used at such election shall be printed as soon as may be
practicable after the secretary of the electoral board has been officially
notified of the names of the candidates in such election.

Section 6. A special election shall be held on the twenty-fifth day
of April, nineteen hundred forty-four, at which election the electorate
of the city who were qualified to vote at the last preceding regular No-
vember election, and those who would be qualified to vote at the regular
election in June, nineteen hundred forty-four, shall determine which of
the two legislative plans as provided in section five hereof shall be
adopted for the government of the city, and it is hereby made the duty
of the regular election officers of the city to prepare the ballots and pro-
vide for the submission of the question to the voters at the election. The
election shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by law for the con-
duct of regular elections and the ballots shall be printed and voted in
accordance with the provisions of section one hundred ninety-seven-a
of the Code. The questions to be voted on shall be printed in separate
lines thus:

[] For council at large plan.
(] For council by ward plan.

Returns of the election shall be certified by the commissioners of election
to the corporation court of the city or the judge in vacation and an order
shall be entered of record, setting forth the legislative plan adopted by
a majority vote of the electors at the election, a copy of which shall be
forthwith certified by the clerk of the court to the council of the city for
recordation in its journal.

The election may be contested and the proceedings for the contest
shall conform as nearly as may be to the provisions of section two thou-
sand seven hundred fifty-four of the Code of Virginia.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.