Chap. 338.—An ACT to Authorize the Qualified Voters of the County of
Chesterfield to Vote Anew on the question of the Removal of the County
Courthouse to the Town of Manchester.

Approved July 11, 1870.

Whereas, at the county court of Chesterfield county, at its
February term, eighteen hundred and seventy, acting upon
petitions presented to said court, have memorialized the gene-
ral assembly of Virginia that the sense of the people of said
county should be taken upon the change of location of the
courthouse of said county; and whereas, it is deemed necessary
that the said question of removing the said courthouse should
be voted on anew: therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly ot Virginia, That
it shall be the duty of the officers conducting the elections in
the county of Chesterfield, at the time and places for holding
the election, on the tirst Tuesday after the first Monday in No-
vember next, in said county, to prepare a separate ballot box
in which shall be deposited the ballots of the qualified voters
who shal] desire to vote upon the question of said removal.
The ballots shall be respectively as follows:

For the town of Manchester.

For the present location.

Each ballot cast, which shall have written or printed thereon,
“for the town of Manchester,” shall be deemed and taken as a
vote for the removal of the seat of justice of the county of
Chesterfield to the town of Manchester. And each ballot
having written or printed thereon, “ for the present location,”
shall be taken as a vote against the removal of the said seat of
justice. The officers conducting said election shall receive the
ballots of every person applying to vote, who shall be qualified
according to the constitution and laws of this commonwealth
to vote for the officers then to be elected, and shall keep said
polls open as long as the polls for the election of said officers
shall be kept open, and shall proceed with, certify, and return
the same to the clerk of the county court of the said county of
Chesterfield in the same manner, and shall be liable to the
same penalties for neglect and failure therein, as prescribed by
law in relation to the officers then to be elected: provided,
however, that the failure of the said officers, conducting the
election, to keep separate poll books, or to return and certify
the said vote upon such poll! books, shall not affect the legality
of said election upon the question of the said removal of the
said seat of justice, but said return may be made on paper,
or some other convenient manner, in writing or figures.

2. It shall be the duty of the county court of the county of
Chesterfield, in term time or the judge thereof in vacation, to
appoint five persons to act as town commissioners, any three or
more of whom shall constitute a board, whose duty it shall be
to meet at the clerk’s office of the county court of said county
of Chesterfield on the Monday next succeeding said election,
and then and there proceed, in the presence of each other, to
scrutinize, purge, and count the bailots taken on the removal
of the said seat of justice and returned to the said clerk of the
county court of Chesterfield county, and decide upon the le-
gality or illegatity of the ballots so taken; and they shall have
power to sit from day to day until their duties shall have been
discharged, and having stricken therefrom such ballots as, in
the opinion of a majority of said commissioners, may have been
illegally cast, said commissioners shall count the ballots which
remain unstricken, and shall verify the same by taking and
subscribing before some officer authorized to administer oaths
in the county of Chesterfield, an affidavit to the following ef-
fect: “We do hereby make oath, or affirm, that we have care-
tuily examined the ballots in the boxes, vast upon the question
of the removal of the seat of justice of Chesterfield county,
and that we have stricken therefrom no ballots which, in the
opinion of a majority of us, were properly cast, and that no
ballots remain which a majority of us concur in believing are
not entitled so to be, according to the provisions of this act.
Sworn to before me, , this day of , eighteen
hundred and seventy.” And it shall be the duty of said com-
missioners to return the said counted ballots, so verified, to the
clerk of the county court of Chesterfield, to be preserved by
him in his office; and the said commissioners shall, at the same
time, certify to the county court which of the locations afore-
said received the largest number of ballots. If the town of
Manchester shall have received the largest number of votes,
the said town of Manchester shall be, to all intents and pur-
poses, the place of holding court in the county of Chesterfield,
and for conducting the business incident thereto, from and after
the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-one.

3. When it shall be ascertained that, a majority of the votes
cast at the said election were in favor of the said removal of
the seat of justive of Chesterfield county to the town of Man-
chester, the said county court of Chesterfield county shall im-
mediately proceed to cause a court-house and other necessary
public buildings and fixtures, for the said county of Chester-
field, to be erected at such place in the town of Manchester as
the said court may select; and the said county court shall sell,
upon such terms as it may deem: proper, the land and appur-
tenances now occupied as the site of the seat of justice for the
said county of Chesterfield, and appropriate the proceeds of
said sale towards detraying the expense of procuring the land
and erecting the aforesaid buildings to be erected at the new
seat of justice.

4. The town of Manchester is hereby authorized and em-
powered, according to the discretion of the trustees of said
town, to make any donations of lands, money, or bonds to the
county of Chesterfield, not exceeding ten thonsand dollars in
value or amount, to he used and applied towards the erection
of the atoresaid court-house and other necessary buildings;
and the said county court of Chesterfield county, or the proper
authorities thereof, may accept the same, and if such offer, so
made and accepted, the town of Manchester shall, by appro-
priation out of the town treasury or otherwise, furnish the
amount of lands, money, or bonds so donated: provided, that
the said donation be acceptel by the said county of Chester-
field, or the proper authorities thereof, within sixty days after
the offer shall have been made on the part of the town of Man-
chester.

5. The said county of Chesterfield, or the proper authori-
ties thereof, are hereby authorized and empowered, should it
become necessary, to cause a levy or levies to be made for the
purpose of defraying the expense of removing the said seat of
justice of Chesterfield county under the provisions of this act.

6. The returns of the said officers conducting the election,
or the said commissioners heretofore appointed, shall be sub-
ject to the inquiry, determination, and judgment of the circuit
court for the county of Chesterfield, or the judge thereof in
vacation, upon the complaint of five or more of the qualified
voters of the county of Chesterfield, one of whom shall take
and subscribe an oath or affirmation that the facts set forth in
such complaint are true to the best of his information and be-
lief; and the said court, or the judge thereof in vacation, shall
proceed summarily upon the merits of said complaint, and
shall determine finally concerning the same, according to the
constitution and laws of this commonwealth, upon reasonable
notice to the said officers or the said commissioners, as the
conduct of the one or the other may be the subject of com-
plaint; and upon such hearing, the said court, or the judge
thereof, shall grant such relief as the nature of the case may
require, and use the process of the court to compel the attend-
ance of witnesses and execute the judgment thereupon, ren-
dered in term time as well as vacation.

7. This act shall be in force from its passage.