Chap. 55.—An ACT providing for the election of the members of the State
corporation commission by the qualified voters of the State and providing
for their terms and commission. [S B 3]

Approved February 16, 1918.

Whereas, the Constitution of Virginia, section one hundred and
fifty-five, provides that “After the first day of January, nineteen
hundred and eight, the general assembly may provide for the elec-
tion of the members of the commission by the qualified voters of the
State;” therefore:

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That at
the general election to be held in the month of November, nineteen
hundrd and nineteen, and at the general election to be held in the
month of November in each alternate vear thereafter, there shel!
be elected by the qualified voters of the State a citizen of this Stat+
possessing the qualifications prescribed by Constitution and by law.
to be a member of the State corporation commission (which shall
be composed of three members), and whose term of office shall be
that prescribed by the Constitution, and shall begin on the first day
of February next succeeding his election, except in the case of an
appointee to fill a vacancy, in which case the term of office of any
such appointee shall begin from the date of his qualification. When
a vacancy shall occur after the passage of this act, the same shall be
filled by appointment by the governor, as provided in section one
hundred and fifty-five of the Constitution, until the expiration of
twenty days after the next general election held not less than sixty
days after the vacancy occurs, at which election the vacancy shall
be filled for the residue of the unexpired term. The members of the
State corporation commission now in office, and the appointee of
the governor, whose term of oflice begins on the first day of Feb-
ruary, nineteen hundred and eighteen, and those hereafter to be
elected or appointed, shall hold office for the respective terms for
which they have been or may hereafter be chosen and until their
respective successors in office have been appointed or elected and
qualified, unless they shall sooner be removed from oflice as pre-
scribed by the Constitution or by law. The governor shall com-
mission each of the members of the State corporation commission,
who may be appointed or elected, as the case may be, and said com-
mission shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the State corpora-
tion commission.

2. The votes cast at elections for members of the State corpora-
tion commission shall be counted and returns made to the various
clerks of the counties and cities of the Commonwealth, as provided
by law for other State officers, and shall be canvassed by commis-
sioners of election, certified to the secretary of the Commonwealth,
and canvassed by the board of State canvassers, as the law directs
the votes for superintendent of public instruction and the commis-
sioner of agriculture and immigration to be canvassed and certt-
fied. In case the election of a member of the State corporation
commission is contested, the same shall be instituted and proceeded
with and determined by the general assembly in the same manner
as 1s provided for contests for the office of governor, lieutenant gov-
ernor, secretary of the Commonwealth, State treasurer and attornev
general.

3. That all acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act be.
und they are hereby, repealed.