Chap. 397.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 202, 203, 205 and 208 of
the Code of Virginia, as heretofore amended, relating to absent voters.
H B 168]

Approved March 23, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
two hundred and two, two hundred and three, two hundred and five,
and two hundred and eight of the Code of Virginia, as heretofore
amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 202. Any duly qualified voter who will, in the regular and
orderly course of his business, profession, occupation, or other per-
sonal affairs, or on vacation or his attendance as a student at any
school or institution of learning, be absent from the city, town, or
from the precinct in which he is entitled to vote, 1f in a county, and
any such voter who may be physically unable to go in person to the
polls on the day of election, may vote in any primary or general elec-
tion, in accordance with the provisions of the following sections of this
chapter, as amended.

Section 203. He shall make application in writing for a ballot to
the registrar of his precinct, not less than five nor more than sixty
days prior to the primary or general election in which he desires to
vote, if he be within the confines of the United States, or not less than
sixty days nor more than ninety days, if he be in the Philippines.
Hawaii, Porto Rico, the Canal Zone, or in touch with an American
consulate in territory over which the United States has no jurisdiction.
The application may be handed to the registrar in person, or forwarded
to him by mail, and shall contain necessary postage, or the correct
amount in legal tender, necessary for registering the ballot to him, and
full directions for mailing the same. But the failure to enclose neces-
sary postage shall not render void a vote otherwise legally cast.

If such application be made by a voter in person when he is within
his city, town or precinct, the same shall be accompanied by an aff-
davit to the effect that such voter expects to be absent from his city,
town or precinct, on the day of the election, for some one of the reasons
set forth in the preceding section, or that he will be physically unable to
go in person to the polls on the day of election.

Any such application, when signed and delivered, or returned to
the registrar, shall be construed to be an offer by the voter signing the
same, to vote in said election.

Section 205. The registrar, upon receipt of the application for bal-
lot, if the applicant is duly registered in that precinct, shall enroll the
name and address of the applicant on a list to be kept by him for the
purpose, and forward to the applicant by registered mail or deliver to
the said applicant in person the following, all of which shall be fur-
nished by the electoral board.

(a) An envelope containing the folded ballot, sealed and marked
“ballot within. Do not open except in presence of a notary public”
(or other officer mentioned in section two hundred and eight).

(b) An envelope for resealing the marked ballot, on which is
printed the “voucher,” form of which is hereinafter provided.

(c) A properly addressed envelope for the return of said ballot.
A printed slip giving instructions as to the manner of making out
voucher on the envelope for the return of ballot hereinafter mentioned
and how the same shall be returned, but such slip shall not contain any
instructions with regard to the manner of marking the ballot or any
information which will give aid to the prospective voter on the prep-
aration of his ballot in contravention of the Constitution of Virginia.

(e) A “coupon,” the form of which is hereinafter given; provided,
however, that no registrar shall go in person beyond the limits of his
city, town, or of the voting precinct of which he is registrar, if in a
county, for the purpose of delivering any such ballot to any voter, nor
shall he go in person to any voter within the limits of his city, town,
or voting precinct, if in a county, for the purpose of delivering any
such ballot, unless the application therefor be accompanied with the
certificate of a reputable physician that such voter will be physically
unable to go in person to the polls on the day of the election in which
he desires to vote such ballot.

Three days before the day of election, the registrar shall make out
in duplicate, a list of the names and addresses of all persons to whom
he has so sent and’ delivered such ballots, and shall post one copy
thereof in a conspicuous place at the polling place of his precinct and
transmit the other, either by mail or in person, to the clerk to whose
office returns of said election are to be made.

The printed slip of instructions provided for in paragraph (d) of
this section shall also contain, in bold type, an instruction to the voter
to the effect that if he should for any reason decide not to vote the
ballot enclosed, he shall return the same unopened, to the registrar, as
provided in section two hundred and eight.

Section 208. Upon receipt of the registered letter, forwarded by
the registrar, the voter shall not open the sealed envelope, marked
“ballot within,” except in the presence of a notary public or other of-
ficer authorized by law to take acknowledgments to deeds, and shall
then and there mark and refold the ballot without assistance and with-
out making known the manner of marking same. He shall then and
there place the ballot in the envelope provided for the same, seal the
same, and fill in and sign the voucher printed on the back of the en-
velope, in the presence of a notary public or other officer hereinabove
provided, who shall witness the same in writing. This envelope, to-
gether with the coupon, which must be filled out and signed by a
notary public, or other officer as herein provided, shall be enclosed
within the envelope directed to the registrar, which shall then and
there be sealed, and shall be registered and mailed to the registrar, or
delivered to the registrar in person; provided, however, that no regis-
trar shall go in person to any voters for the purpose of receiving such
ballot from him, except it be such person to whom he is authorized to
go in person to deliver a ballot, as provided in section two hundred
and five, as amended by this acf.

If for any reason a person, who has applied for and received a
ballot, should decide not to vote the same, it shall be his duty to return
such ballot unopened, in the sealed envelope in which it was received,
to the registrar from whom he received the same, at least three days
before the day of the election in which such ballot was intended to
be used.

The registrar shall note on the list required by section two hundred
and five, to be kept by him, opposite the name of the person returning
such ballot, the fact that the same was returned unused, with the date
of the return thereof, and he shall carefully preserve all such ballots so
returned and deliver them, together with the other unused ballots in
his hands, to the judges of election on election day, as provided in
section two hundred and ten. ‘Then if said voter shall return to his
precinct, after having returned his unused ballot as provided herein
and present himself to personally cast his vote on election day he shall
be entitled to cast his ballot.