Chap. 243.—An ACT to provide for the selection of delegates to the consti-
tutional convention, for the convening of said delegates, the organization
of the said convention and for submitting the revised and amended consti-
tution to the people of the State of Virginia for ratification or rejection.

Approved February 16, 1901.

Whereas in pursuance of an act of the general assembly, approved
March fifth, nineteen hundred, entitled “an act to provide for submit-
ting to the qualified voters of the state the question of calling a con-
stitutional convention to be held for the purpose of revising and amend-
ing the present constitution,” an election was duly held on the fourth
Thursday in May, nineteen hundred; and

Whereas the board of state canvassers have certified that at said
election a large majority of the qualified voters of this state voted in
favor of a constitutional convention, and their determination has been
communicated by the governor to this body, and it is now proper to
provide plans for the selection of the delegates to such convention for
the convening of said delegates and the organization of the said con-
vention, and for submitting the revised and amended constitution to
the people of the state of Virginia for ratification or rejection; there-
fore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the dele-
gates to the said convention shall be elected at the election to be held
on the fourth Thursday in May, nineteen hundred and one, and the
judges of election at the several voting places in the state where other-
wise there would be no election held are hereby required to hold an
election on said day for the election of delegates to said convention.

2. The ballots to be used in said election shall be furnished by the
respective electoral boards of the counties and cities of the common-
wealth, and the election of delegates to the convention shall, in all re-
spects, be in accordance with the general election laws of the common-
wealth for the election of members of the general assembly, except as
hereinafter provided.

3. All persons shall be qualified to vote for delegates to the conven-
tion, and shall be eligible to membership therein ‘who are entitled to
vote for members of the general assembly under the constitution and
laws of this commonwealth.

4. The apportionment and districts shall be as prescribed in this sec-
tion.

From the counties, cities, and towns of each district as now created
by law for the election of members to the house of delegates of the
general assembly of Virginia there shall be elected by the qualified
electors thereof delegates as follows:

Accomac shall have one delegate; Albemarle and the city of Char-
lottesville shall have two delegates; Alexandria county and the city of
Alexandria shall have one delegate; Alleghany, Bath and Wighland
shall have one delegate; Amherst shall have one delegate; Augusta and
the city of Staunton shall have two delegates; Bedford shall “have two
delegates; Botetourt shall have one delegate; Brunswick shall have one
delegate ; Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise “shall have one delegate;
Buckingham and Cumberland shall have one delegate; Campbell shall
have one delegate; Campbell and Appomattox shall have one delegate;
Caroline shall have one delegate: Carroll shall have one delegate; Char-
lotte shall have one delegate; Chesterfield, Manchester and Powhatan
shall have two delegates; Clarke and Warren shall have one delegate;
Craig, Roanoke county and Roanoke city shall have two delegates:
Culpeper shall have one delegate; Dinwiddie shall have one delegate;
Klizabeth City and Accomae shall have one delegate; Essex and Mid-
diesex shall have one delegate; Fairfax shall have one delegate; Fau-
quier shall have one delegate; Floyd shall have one delegate; Fluvanna
and Goochland shall have one delegate; Franklin shall have one dele-
gate; Frederick and Winchester shall have one delegate; Gloucester and
Mathews shall have one delegate: Grayson shall have one delegate;
Greene and Madison shall have one delegate; Greenesville and Sussex
shall have one delegate; Halifax shall have two delegates; Hanover
shall have one delegate; Henrico shall have one delegate; Henry shall
have one delegate; Isle of Wight shall have one delegate; King and
Queen shall have one delegate; King William and Hanover shall have
one delegate; Lancaster and Richmond county shall have one delegate;
Lee shall have one delegate; Loudoun shall have one delegate; Loudoun
and Fauquier shall have one delegate; Louisa shall have one delegate ;
Lynchburg shall have one delegate; Lunenburg shall have one delegate:
Mecklenburg shall have one delegate; Montgomery and Radford ‘shall
have one delegate ; Nansemond shall have one delegate; Nelson shall
have one delegate: New Kent, Charles City, James City, Warwick,
York, Williamsburg, and Newport News shall have one delegate; Nor-
folk city shall have two delegates; Norfolk county shall have one dele-
gates Northampton and Accomac shall have one delegate; Northumber-
land and Westmoreland shall have one delegate; Nottoway and Amelia
shall have one delegate; Orange shall have one delegate ; Page and
Rappahannock shall have one delegate; Patrick shall have one del egate;
Petersburg shall have two delegates ; Pittsylvania and Danville shal!
have four “delegates ; Portsmouth shall have one delegate; Princess Anne
shall have one “delegate ; Prince Edward shall have one delegate ; Prince
George and Surry “shall have one delegate; Prince William shall have
one delegate; Pulaski and Giles shall have one delegate; Rappahannock
shall have one delegate; Richmond city shall have five delegates; Rock-
bridge and Buena Vista shall have two delegates ; Rockingham shall have
two del egates; Russell shall have one delegate; Scott shall have one
delegate; Shenandoah shall have one delegate; Southampton shall have
one delegate; Smyth and Bland shall have one delegate; Spotsylvania
and Fredericksburg shall have one delegate; Stafford and King George
shall have one delegate; Tazewell shall have one delegate; Washington
and city of Bristol shall have two delegates; Wythe shall have one dele-
ate.

. 5. The board of state canvassers shall meet at the office of the secre-
tary of the commonwealth on the first Monday in June, nineteen hun-
dred and one, and shall examine the certified abstracts of said election
and issue certificates to delegates to the convention as the same would
he issued under section one hundred and forty-two of the Code of Vir-
ginia to members elected to the gencral assembly, and upon the day of
the assembling of the convention the secretary of the commonwealth
shall lav before it a list of the delegates clected thereto with the dis-
tricts they represent. If all the abstracts of votes to be counted shall
not have been received by the first Monday in June, nineteen hundred
and one, the said hoard shall adjourn from day to day until they shall
he so received by the secretary of the commonwealth.

6. The persons who shall be elected in pursuance of this act shall, on
Wednesday, the twelfth day of June, nineteen hundred and one, at
twelve o'clock, meet and assemble in the hall of the house of delegates
at the capitol, in the city of Richmond, in general convention. to con-
sider, discuss and propose a new constitution, or alterations and amend-
ments to the existing constitution.

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 which members
elected to and attending on the general assembly are entitled to; and
moreover, shall be allowed the same pay for traveling to, and returning
from the said convention, as is now allowed to members of the general
assembly, and shall receive for attendance upon said convention the
sum of four dollars per day, Sundays included; and the said convention
is hereby empowered to appropriate such sums of money as may be
necessary to defray the costs of printing and other incidental expenses
and to appoint such officers and to make them reasonable allowances
for their services as it shall deem proper, which several allowances
shall be audited by the auditor of public accounts and paid by the
treasurer of the commonwealth upon proper warrants, to be attested by
the clerk and signed by the president of the convention.

8. In the case of any contested election to the convention, the same shall
ebe governed in all respects by the existing laws in regard to contested
elections to the senate.

9. The executive of this commonwealth shall have power to award
writs of election to supply vacancies which may happen in the conven-
tion by death, removal, resignation or other incapacity of any members
elected to serve therein, according to the provisions of this act, pre-
viously to the meeting of the said convention; but if any such vacancy
shall happen after the meeting of the said convention, the presiding
officer of the same shall award the said writs, and the election under
such writs shall be conducted in all respects as the elections hereinbefore
provided for; and all provisions of law relating to special elections
held under section one hundred and fifteen, Code of Virginia, shall
apply to elections held for the purpose of filling vacancies as aforesaid.

10. It shall be the duty of the presiding officer of the said convention
to certify a copy of the constitution as the same shall be revised and
amended, to the governor as soon as the convention shall have adjourned
sine die.

11. It shall be the duty of the governor, upon the receipt of such
certified copy, forthwith, by proclamation, to be published in such news-
papers of this commonwealth as may be deemed sutticient, to announce
the fact, and, moreover, to annex to his proclamation a copy of such
revised and amended constitution, together with schedule thereto an-
nexed; which proclamation, constituticn, and schedule annexed, shall
be published as aforesaid once a weck for four successive weeks, and
one hundred printed copies thereof shall be by the governor forthwith
transmitted to the clerk of each county and corporation court in this
commonwealth, to be by such clerk submitted to the examination of any
person who may desire the same.

12. If said convention shall agree upon a revised and amended con-
stitution on or before the fifth day of October, nineteen hundred and
one, the said revised and amended constitution thall be submitted to
the qualified voters of the commonwealth as a whole or by scparate
articles or sections, as the convention may determine, for ratification
or rejection, at the general election, to be held on the fifth day of No-
vember, nineteen hundred and one.

13. Upon the official ballots to be used in the said general election
shall be printed the words, “The constitution as revised and amended” ;
or, article » section , of the constitution as revised and
amended, and underneath shall be the words, “For ratifying,” “Fou
rejecting,” which shall be on two separate lines and in such type as is
provided in the general law, and shall be at least one inch below any
other printing on said ballot; or in the event any such articles or scc-
tions are submitted separately, then beneath the words indicating such
articles or sections shall be printed, in like manner, the words, “For
ratifying,” “For rejecting,” which shall be on two separate lines and in
such type as is provided in the general law. Any voter who may desire
to vote for the ratification of the constitution or of any article or section
separately submitted, shall strike out the words “For rejecting,” and
those who desire to vote for the rejecting of the constitution or of any,
article or section separately submitted, shall strike out the words, “For
ratifying.”

14. Any voter who shall be unable to properly prepare his ballot shall
be entitled to require such assistance for that purpose from the judge
of election designated to assist illiterate and physically disabled voters,
as is now provided under the general election law of the state.

15. The manner of receiving and canvassing said ballots and making
returns and abstracts thereof shall conform in all respects to the re-
quirements of the general election laws of the state, except the certificate
of judges and clerks, which shall be as follows, or to like effect:

“We hereby certify that at the election held on the fifth day of No-
vember, nineteen hundred and one, there were votes cast for rati-
fying the constitution, and votes cast for rejecting the constitu-
tion”; or, votes cast for ratifying article or —— section of
the constitution as revised and amended and votes cast for reject-
ing article, section of the constitution ag revised and
amended.

Clerks. : Judges.
And the proper official canyassers of general election returns shall can-
vass these returns in a like manner as other election returns, and the
results shall be certified to the secretary of the commonwealth as the
result in other elections is certified.

16. It shall be the duty of the board of state canvassers to canvass
said returns at the time returns of the said general election are can-
vassed ; and if it shall appear that a majority of the votes so cast is for
ratifying said revised and amended constitution, the secretary of the
commonwealth shall certify the fact to the general assembly upon the
first day of the next regular session, in order that the constitution thus
ratified shall be carried into effect.

17%. But if said convention shall not propose a revised and amended
constitution on or before the fifth day of October, nineteen hundred anc
one, it shall remain for the next general assembly to enact such measure:
as it may deem proper for submitting the said revised and amended con.
stitution to the people of this commonwealth for ratification or rejec-
tion.

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