Chap. 346.—An ACT to repeal sections 63 and 66, and to amend a
sections 62, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 72, 73, 74, 75, 78. 79, 80, and 85, as :
act approved May 26, 1903, of chapter 8 of the Code of Virginia.

Approved December 8, 1903.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, The
sixty-three and sixty-six of chapter eight of the Code of Vi
and the same are hereby, repealed ; and that sections sixty-two,
sixty-five, sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine, seventy-two, sev
seventy-four, seventy-five, seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eig
eighty-five, of chapter eight, as amended by act approved Me
sixth, nineteen hundred and three, of the Code of Virginia, h
and re-enacted sq as to read as follows:
$62. Qualification of voters; disqualifications—Every male citizen
of the United States twenty-one years old, who has been a resident of
the State two years, of the county, city, or town one year, and of the pre-
cinct in which he offers to vote thirty days next preceding the election,
and who has been duly registered and has paid his State poll-tax as re-
quired by law, and is otherwise qualified under the Constitution and laws
of this State, shall be entitled to vote for members of the general as-
sembly and all officers elected by the people, but the removal from one
precinct to another in the same county, city, or town shall not deprive
any person of his right to vote in the precinct from which he has moved
until the expiration of thirty days from such removal: provided, that
the following persons shall be excluded from registering and voting:
Idiots, insane persons, and paupers, persons who prior to the adoption of
the Constitution were disqualified from voting by conviction of crime.
either within or without this State, and whose disabilities shall not have
been removed ; persons convicted after the adoption of the Constitution,
either within or without this State, of treason or of any felony, bribery,
petit larceny, obtaining moncy or other property under false pretences.
embezzlement, forgery, or perjury; persons who while citizens of this
State, after the adoption of the Constitution, have fought a duel with a
deadly weapon or sent or accepted a challenge to fight such duel, cither
within or without this State, or knowingly conveyed a challenge, or aided
or assisted in any way in the fighting of such duel: provided, also, that.
no officer, soldier, seaman, or marine of the United States army or navv
shall be deemed to have gained a residence as to the right of suffrage in
the State, or in any county, city, or town thereof, by reason of his being
stationed therein, nor shall any inmate of any charitable institution or
a student in any institution of learning he regarded as having either
gained or lost a residence, as to the right of suffrage, by reason of his
location or sojourn in such institution.

§ 64. There shall be in each county and city an electoral board, com-
posed of three members, who shall be appointed by the circuit court of
the county or the corporation court of the city, or the judge of the court
in vacation. he first appointment of said board shall be made during
the month of February, nineteen hundred and four, when one member
of the board shall be appointed for a term of one year, one for a term of
two years, and one for a term of three years. During the month of Feb-
ruary in each year thereafter, as the terms of the members of the board
shall respectively expire, their successors shall be appointed for the full
term of three years. Any vacancy occurring in any board shall be filled
by the same authority for the unexpired term. The term of the electoral
hoards appointed under this act shall commence on the first of March next
succeeding their appointment. The members of said board shall qualify
before the first of March next succeeding their appointment by taking
and subscribing the oaths required to be taken by county and city offi-
cers.

Each electoral board shall appoint the judges, clerks, and registrars
of election for its city or county, including the towns therein, and in ap-
pointing judges of election, representation, as far as possible, shall be
civen to cach of the two political parties which, at the general election
next preceding their appointment, cast the highest and next highest
number of votes.

No person, nor the deputy of any person, holding any office or post of
profit or cmolument under the United States government, or who is
in the employment of such government, or holding any elective office of
profit or trust in the State, or in any county, city, or town thereof, shall
be appointed a member of ‘the electoral board or a registrar or judge of
clection.

§ 65. Chairman and secretary.—The said board shall elect one of their
number chairman and another secretary.

$67. Appointment of registrars —It shall be the duty of the electoral
beard of each city and county, prior to the first day of April, nineteen
hundred and four, and every alternate year thereafter, to appoint a regis-
trar for each election district of their respective counties and cities, who
shall be a discreet citizen and resident of the clection district in and for
which he is appointed, and who shall hold office for the term of two years
from the first day of May following his appointment and until his suc-
cessor is duly appointed and qualified. In the city of Richmond it shall
be lawful for each registrar to appoint a clerk and to administer to him
the same oaths as those taken by the registrar. The said electoral boards
shall, from time to time, fill any vacancy that may occur in the office of
registrar.

$68. Meetings of hoards; quorum; record of proceedings.—The elec-
toral board of cach city and county shall convene in regular session at
such time in the month of Mareh of each year as the board may prescribe,
and at any other time upon the call of any member of the board, but at
any special mecting the board shall have the same powers as at a ‘regular
meeting. At any session two members shall constitute a quorum. The
secretary of cach electoral board shall keep, in a book to be provided for
that purpose, an accurate account of all the proceedings of the board, in-
cluding all appointments and removals of judges, clerks, and registrars,
which shall be open to the inspection of any one who desires to examine
the same at any time.

$69. Board to fill vacancy in office of registrar; may remove regis-
trars, judges, and clerks.—The said electoral board shall have the power,
and it shall be their duty, after the first of March, nineteen hundred and
four, to declare vacant, and to proceed to fill the oflice of any registrar
in their respective cities, countics, and towns who fail to qualify and de-
liver to the clerk of the board his official oath in the vsual form within
thirty days after he has been notified of his appointment, which notifica-
tion shall be promptly given by the clerk. The board shall also have
power, after the first of March, nineteen hundred and four, to remove
from office any and every judge of election, registrar. or clerk, upon
notice, who fails to dischar ee the duties of his office according to law.

$72. When judges of cireuit court to fill vacaneics in board.—If any
of the members of the electoral board for any county or city shall fail to
qualify within the time prescribed by this chapter, it shall he the
duty of the judge of the circuit court of ‘each-county, or corporation court
of Be city, to fill vacancies either in term or vacation.

$73. Who to be registered—Fach registrar shall, after the first: day
of January. nineteen hundred and four, register every male citizen of
the United States, of his election district, who shall apply to be regis-
tered at tle time and in the manner required by law, who shall be twenty-
one years of age at the next election, who has been a resident of the State
two years, of the county, city, or town one year, and of the precinct in
which he offers to register thirty days next preceding the election, who,
at least six months prior to the election, has paid to the proper officer
all State poll-taxes assessed or assessable against him under this or the
former Constitution for three years next preceding that in which he of-
fers to register, or if he come of age at such time that no poll-tax shall
be assessable against him for the year preceding the year in which he
offers to register, has paid one dollar and fifty cents in satisfaction of
the first year’s poll-tax assessable against him, and unless physically un-
able to do so, shall make application to the registrar in his own hand-
writing, without aid, suggestion, or memorandum, in the presence of the
registrar, stating therein his name, age, date, and place of birth, resi-
dence, and occupation at the time and for the two years next preceding.
and whether he has previously voted; and if so, the State, county, and
precinct in which he voted last; and shall answer on oath any and ali
questions affecting his qualifications as an elector, submitted to him by
the registrar, which questions and answers thereto shall be reduced to
writing, certified by the said registrar, and preserved as a part of the
official records: provided, that the following persons shall be excluded
from registering idiots, insane persons, and paupers and persons who
prior to the adoption of the Constitution were disqualified from voting
by conviction of crime, cither within or without the State, and whose
disabilities shall not have been removed; persons convicted after the
adoption of the Constitution within or without the State, of treason, or
any felony, bribery, petit larceny, obtaining money or property under
false pretences. embezzlement, forgery, or perjury; persons who while
citizens of this State, after the adoption of the Constitution, have fought
a duel with a deadly weapon, or sent or accepted a challenge to fight such
duel within or without this: State, or knowingly conveyed a challenge.
or aided or assisted in any way in the fighting of such duel, unless the
disabilities incurred thereby have been removed. If any person claim-
ing to be a naturalized citizen of the United States shall not be able to
establish the date of his papers, or the court in which they were issued,
by reason of his having lost the same. or for other cause, then his oath
or affirmation that he has been duly naturalized shall be accepted and
shall entitle him to register. It shall be the duty of the registrar to fur-
nish a suitable and convenient place, with necessary table, chair, paper.
and ink or pencil to be used by persons desiring to register in writing
their applications for registration, the cost of the same to be paid out of
the county or city treasury. Jt shall also be the duty of the registrar to
preserve the written application of all persons who are registered, or
who are denied registration by him, for at. least one vear after such appli-
cation is presented, said written application to be filed and kept with the
registration books and preserved as a part of the official records. If a
person is refused registration, he shall be at once notified of such refusal.

8 VJ. Scerctary of Commonwealth to prepare and distribute books for
registration—The secretary of the Commonwealth shall cause to be pre-
pared suitable books for the registration of voters, and forward them to
the county clerks and to the clerks of the corporation or hustings courts
of the cities, to be by them distributed to the registrars of their respective
election districts. The books shall be so arranged as to admit of the al-
phabetical classification of those registered, and shall be ruled in parallel
columns, in which shall be entered the number, name of voter, the fact
that he is sworn, his age, occupation, the place of residence at time of
registration, the length of time of his residence in the county or city, and,
if in a city, stating the name of the street and number of house in which
he resides, provided the same be numbered; the time of his residence in
the State, and if naturalized, the date of his papers and the court by
which issued, if known, and if registered as a voter, exempt from pay-
ment of poll tax under section twenty-two of the Constitution. The lfst.
er pou, white and colored, shall be kept and arranged in separate
ooks.

§ 75. Registration oath—Before a registrar shall register the name
of any person as a voter he shall be satisfied of his qualification as herein-
before prescribed, and every person applying for registration shall, before
he is registered, take and subscribe the following oath: “1, —————_,
do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am entitled to register under the
Constitution and laws of this State, and that I am not disqualified from
exercising the right of suffrage by the Constitution of Virginia,” which
oath, so subscribed, shall be filed with the registrar and preserved with
the books of registration.

§ 78. When voters registered; duties of registrars; their pay.—Each
registrar shall, annually, on the third Tuesday in May, at his voting
place, proceed to register the names of all qualified voters within his
election district not previously registered in the said district in accord-
ance with the provisions of this chapter, who shall apply to be registered,
commencing at sunrise and closing at sunsct, and shall complete such
registration on the third Tuesday in May. Thirty days previous to the
November elections the registrar shall sit one day for the purpose of
amending and correcting the list, at which time any qualified voter ap-
plying and not previously registered may be added. He shall give notice
of the time and place of all registrations for at least ten days before each
sitting by posting written or printed notices thereof at ten or more public
places in his election district. The registrar shall, at any time previous
to the regular days of registration, register any voter entitled to vote at
the next succeeding election who may apply to him to be registered; and
he shall receive as compensation ten cents for the name so registered on
days other than the regular days of registration, the same to be paid out
of the county or city treasury. It shall be the duty of the registrar,
within five days after each sitting, to have posted at three or more public
places in his election district written or printed lists of the names of all
persons so admitted to registration, and also have like lists posted on
the day of election at the place of voting in his election district.

$79. Clerks to furnish registrars with names of voters who have been
convicted of certain offences; their names and the names of persons who
have died to be struck from books.—The county clerk, and the clerk
of each hustings or corporation court shall, at each registration, deliver
to each registrar in his county or city a list of all voters who have been
convicted of any of the offenses enumerated in section twenty-three of
the Constitution since the last registration. Jt shall be the duty of the
registrar to correct his list in accordance with the list thus furnished, and
he shall strike from the list of voters the name of any person so convicted
upon the production before him of a certificate of the clerk of a court
of competent jurisdiction that such person has been so convicted since
December first, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, in such court, or has
been so convicted by a mayor, police justice or justice of the peace in
the county or corporation wherein is held the court to which the said
clerk belongs, unless said person shall produce a pardon from the gov-
ernor, or a certificate from the keeper of rolls that his disabilities have
beén removed by the general assembly. It shall also be the duty of the
registrar to strike from the list of voters the names of all persons who
are proven before him to have died. If any voter whose name has been
so stricken off shall appear at any election and offer to vote upon sat-
isfactory proof that he has not changed his residence since his registra-
tion, his name shall be restored to the registration books by the judges
of election and he shall be permitted to vote if qualified in other respects.

§ 80. Voter changing his residence may change his registration.—
Whenever a registered voter changes his place of residence from one
election district to another in the same county or city it shall be lawful
for him to apply for, in person or in writing, and it shall be the duty
of the registrar of his former election district, at any time up to and in-
cluding the regular days of registration, to furnish a certificate that he
was duly registered and that his name has, since his removal, been erased
from the registration books of said election district, which shall be sufti-
cient evidence to entitle him to be registered in the election district to
which he has removed, on its appearing to the satisfaction of the reg-
istrar that he has resided prior to the next election in such district for
thirty days, and the name of every such person shall be entered at any
time up to and including the regular days of registration by the registrar
on the registration books of the election precinct to which the voter has
removed ; and whenever a registered voter changes his place of residence
from one county or city to another county or city it shall be lawful for
him to apply to the registrar of his former election district at any tim:
up to and including the regular days of registration, in person or in writ-
ing, to furnish a certificate that he was dulv registered and that his name
since his change of residence and removal has been erased from the reg-
istration books of said election district, which certificate shall be de-
livered to the registrar of the election district in which he resides and
offers to be registered in the county or city to which he has removed.
and will entitle him to be registered in said district on its appearing, to
the satisfaction of said registrar, that he has resided, or will have resided
prior to the next election in the county or city to which he has removed.
for one year; and the name of every such person shall be entered at any
time up to and including the regular days of registration by the registrar
on the election books of the election district in which said person re
sides; and no voter who has been heretofore registered at any election
district in this State shall be entitled to be registered in any other
election district unless he shall deliver to the registrar of the district
in which he offers to be registered said certificate, which shall be kept on
file by said registrar.

§$ 85. Registrar to be a conservator of the peace.—Every registrar shall
preserve order at and in the vicinity of the place of registration; and to
enable him to do so, he shall be clothed with all the powers of a con-
servator of the peace while engaged in the duties imposed by law; may
exclude from the place of registration all persons whose presence he
deems unnecessary, and may appoint special constables, not exceeding
three in number, in each magisterial district or ward, and may summon
the bystanders or other persons in the vicinity to assist whenever, in his
judgment, it shall be necessary to preserve order.

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