Chap. 395.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 154 of the Code of Virginia, as
amended, in relation to filing notice of candidacy in elections, so as to clarify
the provisions of the section with respect to party nominations. [H 346]

Approved March 31, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section one hundred fifty-four of the Code of Virginia,
as amended, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 154. Duty of candidates for office—Any person who in-
tends to be a candidate for any office, State or national, to be elected
by the electors of the State at large or of a congressional district, shall,
at least sixty days before the election if it be a general election, and
at least thirty days before the election if it be a special election, or
within five days after the issuance of any writ of election or order calling
a special election to be held less than thirty-five days after the issuance
of the writ or order, notify the Secretary of the Commonwealth, in
writing, attested by two witnesses, of his intention, designating the
office for which he is a candidate. The written notice shall be signed
by the candidate, but if he be incapable of writing his proper signature
then some mark adopted by him as his signature shall be acknowledged
before some officer authorized to take acknowledgments to deeds and
in the same manner. Any person who intends to be a candidate for
any office not embraced in the foregoing, at any election, shall give
notice at least sixty days before the election if it be a general election,
and at least thirty days before the election if it be a special election, or
within five days after the issuance of any writ of election or order calling
a special election to be held less than thirty-five days after the issuance
of the writ or order, to the county clerk or clerks of the county or
counties, and to the clerk or clerks of the corporation courts of the city
or cities whose electors vote for such office, which notice shall in all
respects be in the same form as that above described required to be
given to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. No person not announc-
ing his candidacy as above, or who is not qualified to vote in the election
in which he offers as a candidate, shall have his name printed on the
ballots provided for the election, unless he be a party primary nominee ;
nor shall the name of any candidate for United States Senate or for
the House of Representatives, or for any State Office, other than a
party nominee, nominated by such method as his political party has
chosen for nominating candidates, be printed on the ballots provided
for the election, unless he file along with his notice of candidacy a
petition therefor, signed by two hundred and fifty qualified voters of
the State at large, or of his congressional district, as the case may be,
each signature to which has been witnessed by a person whose affidavit
to that effect is attached to the petition; nor shall the name of any can-
didate for the General Assembly, or for any city or county office, other
than a party nominee as above mentioned, be printed on the ballots pro-
vided for the election, unless he file along with his notice of candidacy
a petition therefor, signed by fifty qualified voters of his city, county,
or district, as the case may be, witnessed as aforesaid and with like
affidavits attached thereto.

The name of any candidate for office who has been nominated by his
party, either by convention, primary or by being declared the nominee
of the party when no primary has been held, shall be certified by the
chairman of the party to the Secretary of the Commonwealth or the
clerk or clerks of the proper court or courts as the case may be, and
no further notice of candidacy or petition shall be required.

On receipt of the foregoing notice the Secretary of the Common-
wealth shall notify the secretary of each electoral board of each county
and city of the State or of the congressional district, and the clerk or
clerks shall notify the secretary of the electoral boards of their respective
counties and cities, which notices shall be sent by the Secretary of the
Commonwealth and clerks immediately after the time has expired in
which candidates may give notice of their candidacy as prescribed by
this section, and upon the failure or refusal of the clerk or clerks im-
mediately to certify to the electoral board the name of each and every
candidate which has been duly filed, the judge of the circuit or corpora-
tion court may upon motion of any candidate affected immediately certify
to the electoral board the name of each and every candidate which has
been duly filed. The clerks shall send copies of the original notices of
candidacy, to the secretary of the electoral board when they notify him.
The names of party primary nominees to be voted on in the several
counties and cities shall be furnished the secretaries of the respective
electoral boards thereof by the several persons to whom abstracts of
primary elections must be furnished under section two hundred forty-
one. Whenever any secretary of the electoral board is elected he shall
at once notify the Secretary of the Commonwealth of his election and
inform him as to his post office address.