CHAPTER 511

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 24-821 as amended, 24-824, 24-8380, and
24-889 of the Code of Virginia, and to amend the Code of Vir-
ginia by adding a section numbered 24-840.1, the amended and new
sections relating generally to abscnt voting and, respectively, to when
applications for ballots made, terms of the statement to accompany
the application for a ballot and requiring such statement to be executed
under penalty of perjury with penalty for violations, requiring regis-
trars to send lists of applicants for ballots to electoral boards and clerks
of court and requiring the latter to maintain the same as public
records, and providing for voting in person by a person who has
applied for and returned a mail ballot. MH 24)

24

Approved April 5, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 24-321 as amended, 24-324, 24-380 and 24-339 of the Code
of Virginia, be amended and reenacted, and that the Code of Virginia
be amended by adding a section numbered 24-340. 1, the amended and new
sections being as follows:

§ 24-321. He shall make application in writing for a ballot to the
registrar of his precinct, not less than * eight nor more than sixty days
prior to the primary * or general election in which he desires to vote if he
be within the confines of the United States. Such application shall be made
not less than * ten days nor more than ninety days, if he be in Hawaii,
Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, or in territory over which the United States
has no jurisdiction.

In case of any second primary or special election such application shall
be made not less than three days nor more than thirty-five days prior to
such second primary.

§ 24-324. The application shall be accompanied by a statement, made
before at least one witness, who shall subscribe it, to the effect that for
some one of the reasons sct out in § 24-319 he expects to be absent from
his city, town or precinct on the day of election, or that he will be physically
unable to go in person to the polls on the day of election. The statement
shall further state that the application is made in conformity with the
election laws and not in violation theréof. The statement shall also state
that the applicant is a resident of the precinct in which he offers to vote,
and shall show whether he is exempt from the payment of the poll tax, and
if so, the reason therefor. The statement shall also declare under penalty
of perjury that the facts in such application have been examined by the
applicant and are true and correct. Any applicant signing an application
which is not true and correct shall be guilty of perjury and punished as
provided by law.

§ 24-330. * Before each election the registrar shall make out in
duplicate a list of the names and addresses of all persons who have
applied to him for such ballots and shall * at least five days before any
primary or general election and at least two days before any second
primary or special election deliver one copy to his electoral board and
one copy to the clerk to whose office returns of the election are to be
made. The registrar shall make such delivery in person, taking a receipt
therefor, or shall make such delivery by registered mail. In the event
delivery is by registered mail the lists shall be deposited in the mails in
time to arrive on or before the day prescribed herein for personal deliv-
ery. Such clerk shall maintain such lists in his office for a period of
ene months as public records open to public inspection during office

Ours.

§ 24-339. On the morning of the day of election on which the ballots
are to be offered, * the electoral board * shall post true copies of the lists
required by §§ 24-330 and 24-338 in conspicuous places at the polling place
of the proper precincts.

§ 24-840.1. On the day of election any voter who has executed and
returned a ballot under the provisions of this chapter may appear in
person at the polls, and demand the production of his ballot. The judges of
election shall thereupon produce the envelope containing the ballot of
such a voter with the accompanying coupon, application, affidavit and
certificate and, in the presence of the voter and after he shall have signed
his name upon the envelope in thejr presence shall mark upon such
envelope, coupon, application, affidavit and certificate “voided at request
of voter’, and sign their names thereto, all of which shall be sealed up
and delivered to the clerk to whose office the returns of the election are
to be made. Following the marking of such envelope and accompanying
documents, the judges of election shall strike the names of the voter
from the list of persons returning ballots, respectively, and such voter
may thereupon, if otherwise qualified, vote in the same manner as any
other voter. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to
authorize the opening of the envelope containing the ballot and any such
envelope voided under the provisions of this section shall not be opened
by the voter or the judges or clerks of the election.