CHAPTER 1

AN ACT to provide for the election of delegates to a constitutional conven-
tion, the issuance of a writ for same, for the convening of said dele-
gates, the organization and functioning of said convention, and to
appropriate funds to defray the expenses of same. [S. 26]

Approved January 19, 1956

Whereas, the State Board of Elections has certified to the Governor
that at the election held on the ninth day of January, nineteen hundred
fifty-six, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter two of the Acts of the
Extra Session of the General Assembly of nineteen hundred fifty-five, a
majority of the qualified voters of this State participating in said election
voted in favor of a constitutional convention to revise and amend § 141
of the Constitution of Virginia to permit the General Assembly and the
governing bodies of the several counties, cities and towns to appropriate
funds for educational purposes which may be expended in furtherance of
elementary, secondary, collegiate and graduate education of Virginia
students in public and nonsectarian private schools and institutions of
learning in addition to those owned or exclusively controlled by the State
or any such county, city or town, and the Governor has issued an execu-
tive proclamation of such fact and of the result of said election; and |

Whereas, it is now the duty of the General Assembly to provide
plans for the election and convening of the delegates to said convention
and for its organization ; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia as follows:

1. 8.1. Apportionment of delegates——From the counties and cities of
each senatorial district as now provided by law for the election of mem-
bers to the Senate of the General Assembly of Virginia, there shall be
elected by the qualified voters thereof delegates to the constitutional con-
vention as follows:

First.—Accomack, Northampton, Princess Anne and Virginia Beach,
one.

Second.—Norfolk City, two.

Third.—Norfotk County and South Norfolk, one.

Fourth.—Halifax, Charlotte, and Prince Edward, one.

Fifth.—Isle of Wight, Nansemond, Southampton and Suffolk, one.

Sixth.—Greensville, Hopewell, Prince George, Surry and Sussex, one.

Seventh.—Brunswick, Lunenburg, and Mecklenburg, one.

Eighth Dinwiddie, Nottoway and Petersburg, one.

Ninth.—Arlington, one.

Tenth.—Portsmouth, one.

Eleventh. Appomattox, Buckingham, Cumberland, Powhatan, Am-
herst, Nelson and Amelia, one.

Twelfth. Campbell and Lynchburg, one.

Thirteenth.—Danville, Henry, Martinsville, Patrick and Pittsylvania,
two.

Fourteenth.—Carroll, Floyd, Galax and Grayson, one.

Fifteenth.—Bristol, Smyth and Washington, one.

Sixteenth—Lee and Scott, one.

Seventeenth.—Dickenson, Norton and Wise, one.

Eighteenth.—Buchanan, Russell and Tazewell, one.
Nineteenth.—Bland, Giles, Pulaski and Wythe, one. .

Twentieth—Alleghany, Bedford, Botetourt, Buena Vista, Clifton
Forge, Covington, Craig and Rockbridge, one.

Twenty-first.—Franklin, Montgomery, Radford and Roanoke County,
one

fos Twenty-second.—Augusta, Bath, Highland, Staunton and Waynes-
0, one.

Twenty-third.—Harrisonburg, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham and
Warren, one.

Twenty-fourth.—Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah and Winchester, one.

Twenty-fifth— Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Greene and
Madison, one.

Twenty-sixth.—F redericksburg, Goochland, Louisa, Orange and Spot-
sylvania, one.

Twenty-seventh.—Culpeper, Fauquier and Loudoun, one.

Twenty-eighth.—F airfax and Falls Church, one.

Twenty-ninthKing George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Prince
William, Richmond County, Stafford and Westmoreland, one.

Thirtieth.—Caroline, Hanover, King William, Essex, King and Queen
and Middlesex, one.

Thirty-first.—Gloucester, Mathews, Warwick, York, James City, New
Kent and Williamsburg, one.

Thirty-second.—Hampton and Newport News, one.

_ Thirty-third——Charles City, Chesterfield, Colonial Heights and Hen-
rico, one.

Thirty-fourth.—Richmond City, three.

Thirty-fifth—Roanoke City, one.

Thirty-sixth.—City of Alexandria, one.

§ 2. The judges of election and other officers charged with the duty
of conducting elections at each of the several voting places in the State
are hereby required to hold an election for the election of said delegates
to the convention on such date not later than thirty-five days after the
effective date of this Act as shall be fixed by the Governor by executive
proclamation and issuance of a writ of election, which said writ shall be
published in the manner prescribed by § 24-138 of the Code. Said election
shall be held and conducted in the manner prescribed by law for holding
and conducting special elections. The persons entitled to vote in said
election shall be the electors qualified to vote at a special election to fill
vacancies for members of the General Assembly.

And provided, further, that the said election officials shall be paid
out of the State treasury the per diem fixed by law for the holding of the
election herein provided for, and an amount sufficient for such purpose
is hereby appropriated therefor out of the general fund in the State
treasury, the same to be paid by the State Treasurer into the several
county and city treasuries, on the warrant of the Comptroller, upon the
proper voucher, or vouchers, required by the Comptroller, approved by
the chairmen of the several boards of supervisors and the several mayors
of the cities.

§ 8. The ballots used in said election shall conform as nearly as
possible to ballots used in general elections for State Senators, and shall
be prepared and distributed by the appropriate electoral boards. The
several counties and cities shall pay the cost of printing said ballots.

The ballots shall be distributed and voted, and the results
thereof ascertained and certified, in the manner prescribed in § 24-141
of the Code of Virginia. It shall be the duty of the clerks and com-
missioners of election of each county and city, respectively, to forth-
with make out, certify and forward an abstract of the votes cast for the
respective candidates in the manner now prescribed by law in relation
cHs. 1, 2) ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 8

to votes cast in general State elections for members of the State Senate.
The provisions of §§ 24-131 and 24-132 of the Code with respect to
notice of candidacy and the printing of the name of a candidate on
the ballot shall be applicable to the election of delegates to the convention ;
provided, that the clerks of the counties and cities shall, upon the expira-
tion of the time for filing notice of candidacy, forthwith certify the name
of each person filing a notice of candidacy under § 24-131 of the Code
to the State Board of Elections and to the Electoral Board of his county
or city. The State Board of Elections shall thereafter be governed by
the applicable provisions of Chapter 13.1 of Title 24 of the Code.

§ 5. It shall be the duty of the State Board of Elections, as soon as
possible, to canvass the said abstracts of votes cast, and state the number
of votes cast at said election for the respective candidates, in the manner
now prescribed by law in relation to votes cast in general elections for
members of the State Senate. The State Board of Elections shall issue
certificates to delegates elected to the convention similar to the certificates
required by law to be issued to members elected to the State Senate, and
upon the day of the assembling of the convention shall lay before it a
list of the delegates elected thereto with the districts they represent.

§ 6. The persons who shall be elected in pursuance of this Act shall,
on the fifth day of March, nineteen hundred fifty-six, at twelve o’clock
noon, meet and assemble in the old hall of the House of Delegates at the
Capitol, in the city of Richmond, in convention, to consider, discuss, adopt,
proclaim, and ordain revisions and amendments in conformity with the
provisions of Section one, sub-section A, of Chapter two of the Acts of the
Extra Session of the General Assembly of nineteen hundred fifty-five.

§ 7. The said convention shall be the judge of its own privileges and
elections, and the members thereof shall have, possess, and enjoy, in the
most full and ample manner, all the privileges to which members elected to
and attending the General Assembly are entitled; and moreover, shall be
allowed the same mileage for traveling to and returning from said con-
vention as is now allowed to members of the General Assembly, and shall
receive for attendance upon said convention the sum of eighteen dollars
per day, Sundays included.

§ 8. The convention shall proclaim, in such manner as it deems
appropriate, the said revisions and amendments adopted and ordained by
it, and said revisions and amendments shall thereupon be and become a
part of the Constitution of Virginia.

2. There is hereby appropriated for the purpose of defraying the
compensation of the members and officers and employees appointed by
the convention, and all other proper expenses thereof, a sufficient sum,
to be paid by the Treasurer upon warrants of the Comptroller issued upon
invoices signed by such officer as the convention may designate.

8. An emergency existing, this Act shall be in force from its passage.