Chap. 287.—An ACT to create a fund for the benefit of and as part of the estate
of Virginia members of the armed forces of the United States and certain af-
filiated services; to provide for the payment, out of said fund, upon written
request of any such member, of his poll tax or taxes necessary to enable such
member to vote in elections for members of the General Assembly, Governor,
Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and all county and city officers ; to pro-
vide for the registration for such elections by mail by such members who are
physically unable, by reason of service in the armed forces, to appear in person
before the registration officer for the purpose of registering under the provisions
of Section 20 of the Constitution of Virginia; to make similar provision for reg-
istration and poll tax payments to enable such members to vote in elections for
Presidential and Vice-Presidential electors and Senators and Representatives
in Congress under certain conditions, and to provide certain conditions and
limitations with respect to the taking effect of and duration of this Act. [S 269]

Approved March 25, 1944

Whereas, the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia in the case of
Tilton v. Herman, 109 Va. 503, held that in order to constitute a personal
payment of poll taxes to render a person eligible to vote, as provided
in the Constitution of Virginia, the same should be paid out of the estate
of the taxpayer and because he desires or wishes to pay same; and,

Whereas, the question as to what constitutes the estate of such a
taxpayer who ts in the active service of the land and naval forces and
unable to be personally present in his county or city, and frequently un-
able to transmit funds with any degree of safety to the treasurer of his
city or county for the payment of such taxes, is a question which has
not been considered or decided by said Court; and,

Whereas, it is the desire of the General Assembly of Virginia to pro-
vide a fund out of which all poll taxes necessary to be paid to render
such members eligible to vote in certain elections may be paid at the
request of said members, and also provide for the payment of same out
of said fund ; and,
Whereas, the General Assembly also desires to provide means and
facilities for the registration by mail of unregistered members in the
service in all cases where such registration is necessary ; and,

Whereas, it is desired also to extend said provisions with respect to
registration and poll tax payments so as to enable such members to vote
in Presidential and Congressional elections in the event of the repeal of
the act of Congress designated as Public Law No. 712, or the nullifica-
tion thereof by judicial decision ; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

1. Section 1. Armed Service Poll Tax Fund.—There is hereby
created in the State Treasury of Virginia a fund to be known as the
“Armed Service Poll Tax Fund”, which shall be administered, as here-
inafter provided, by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and there is
hereby appropriated to said fund a sum sufficient to provide for the pay-
ments of the poll taxes of members of the armed services hereinafter
provided for, and to pay the costs and expenses of administering this
Act. Payments out of said fund shall be made upon warrants of the
Comptroller drawn on the Treasurer pursuant to invoices approved by
the Secretary of the Commonwealth, or someone in his office designated
for that purpose. It is expressly provided that said fund shall be and
is hereby declared to be a fund created for the benefit of and to con-
stitute a part of the estate of each member of the armed forces who may
request the expenditure of his share thereof for the payment of his poll
taxes as hereinafter provided.

Section 2. Requests for Payment of Tax.—Any member of the armed
forces, who is registered as a voter in any city, county, or town in this
State may make written request of the Secretary of the Commonwealth,
as agent of said member, to pay all poll taxes assessed or assessable against
such member necessary to be paid to render him eligible to vote in the
next ensuing elections embraced within the provisions of this act. Upon
receipt of such request, it shall be the duty of said Secretary to ascertain
from the treasurer of the city or county of which such member’s request
shows him to be a resident the required amount to be paid for said pur-
pose, and to pay the same as said members distributive share of said
fund created in section one of this act, provided, however, that said re-
quest is received at such time that the payment can be made six months
before said election. Such request or application shall state the county
or city of applicant’s residence and, if registered, the precinct therein in
which he 1s registered, if known.

In the event the requesting member is not a registered voter, he shall
accompany his request for payment of said tax by an application for
temporary registration as provided in section three hereof. It shall be
the duty of the Secretary upon receipt of same to forthwith transmit
said registration application to the proper registrar, if known, and, if not,
to the chairman of the electoral board of the county or city of applicant's
residence, whose duty, upon receipt of same, it shall be to transmit it to
the proper registrar. It shall thereupon be the duty of the registrar to
notify the Secretary of the Commonwealth at once whether the applica-
tion for temporary registration has been approved by him. Upon being
notified of such approval and ascertainment of the amount necessary to
pay said required taxes, the said Secretary shall pay same as in the case
of a requesting member already registered as provided in the first para-
graph of this section. All such payments shall be deemed to be made
by the Secretary as agent of the members requesting same.

Section 3. Registration by Absent Members of Armed Forces;
Application therefor—Any member of the armed forces who, by rea-
son of being in active military service in time of war, is physically unable
to register in the presence of the registration officer, may make applica-
tion for temporary registration in his own handwriting, as required by
section twenty of the Constitution. He shall state in his application his
name, age, date, and place of birth, residence and occupation at the time
and for the one year next preceding, and whether he has previously
voted, and, if so, the State, county, and precinct in which he voted last.
He shall also in writing answer on oath any and all questions affecting
his qualifications as an elector in the manner hereinafter provided, should
any questions be submitted by the registration officer of the member’s
voting precinct. After completing the said application any such appli-
cant shall, in the presence of and before a commissioned or noncommis-
sioned officer of the land or naval forces, take and subscribe the follow-
ing oath:

“I do hereby swear (or affirm) that the foregoing application for
temporary registration and answers to questions of registrar, if any, has
been made by me, in my own handwriting, without aid, suggestion or
memorandum; that the facts therein stated are true, and that I am now
in active service in the armed forces of the United States, and by reason
thereof am physically unable to register in the presence of the registrar.”

Below the signature of the applicant the officer, after stating his own
rank or title, shall sign the certificate printed thereon certifying that same
was subscribed and sworn to before him, and the date thereof.

The applicant shall return said executed application in the envelope
provided for that purpose, as hereinafter provided, self-addressed to the
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia. If the applicant also de-
sires to request the payment of his poll taxes as provided in section two
of this act, the application for registration and the request for poll tax
payment shall be returned in the same envelope.

Section 4. Application Blanks and Forms.—The Secretary of the
Commonwealth, with the assistance of the Attorney General, shall pre-
pare all request blanks and other forms necessary or proper to carry out
the purposes of this act, including an application for registration blank
bearing the title “Application for Temporary Registration as a Voter
0) ee , Virginia.” Attached to said application

(city or county)
shall be a list of all questions desired by any registrars to be submitted
to applicants for registration in the registrar’s precinct. Said list shall
designate the city, county, and precinct of residence of the applicants to
which the registrars submit the respective questions. Below the title
shall be left ample space for the voter to write his application to regis-
ter as provided in section three hereof. Immediately below the said
space shall be additional space in which an applicant may answer any
questions which the registrar of his precinct has submitted to the appli-
cants in said precinct as above provided. Following below shall be printed
the required oath and line on which to subscribe same and the certificate
of the officer administering the oath.

Section 5. Information to be Furnished Members.—It shall be the
duty of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to have printed on paper of
the lightest available weight possessing the necessary tensile strength a
statement informing the members of the armed forces of such of the
provisions of this act as may be necessary for them to be advised of their
rights hereunder, especially with respect to registration and each mem-
ber’s share in the fund created by section one of this act and the use
thereof for poll tax payment. Such statement shall quote the provisions
of section three hereof, except the form of the oath and the provision for
the certificate of the officer administering same which shall be omitted
since same will appear on the application blank. All necessary envelopes
for the transmission to the members and the return to the Secretary of
the Commonwealth of the applications for registration and poll tax pay-
ments, the said Secretary shall also cause to be prepared and printed on
like lightweight paper. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall ascer-
tain from Army and Navy authorities, Draft Boards, and any other
available sources, the names and postal mailing addresses, so far as pos-
sible, of all Virginia members of the armed forces. To each of such
members of voting age he shall send the statement of information con-
cerning this act; a form for application for temporary registration, and a
form for request of payment of poll taxes, together with return envelope
or envelopes addressed to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Section 6. Duties of Registrars, and Judges and Clerks of Elec-
tions.—Within sixty days after the passage of this act every registrar
who desires to submit any questions to be answered by applicants for tem-
porary registration under this act shall send such questions in writing to
the Secretary of the Commonwealth, so that he may submit same to
applicants for registration in his precinct in the manner provided in sec-
tion three of, this act.

Upon receipt from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of an appli-
cation for temporary registration under this act by a member of the
armed forces, the registrar shall examine same, and if said application is
found by him to be in substantial compliance with the provisions of
section three of this act, he shall endorse his approval thereon, and file
same in the records of his office. The registrar shall keep a separate
record of such temporary registrants whose applications have been ap-
proved by him, and whose poll taxes have been paid as provided in sec-
tion two of this act or otherwise, and furnish a typewritten list of same
to the judges of election of all precincts for which he acts as registrar.
It shall be the duty of said judges of election, in acting in all elections
embraced within the provisions of this act, to count the votes or ballots
received from any and all of said temporary registrants in the same
manner and with the same effect, and with the same right of challenge,
as votes and ballots received from registrants who are on the permanent
registration rolls. The election clerks shall record the names of such
voters on the poll books of such elections following the names of other
voters thereat.

Section 7. Application for Registration and Request for Poll Tax
Payments Deemed Applications for Absentee Ballots.—Every application
for registration or request for payment of poll taxes received by the Secre-
tary of the Commonwealth shall be deemed to be an application for an
absentee ballot at the next ensuing primary and general elections, and
said Secretary shall take the same action with respect to same as is pro-
vided in a companion act passed at this session of the General Assembly
to provide absentee voting facilities to members of the armed forces as is
required to be taken with respect to applications for ballots made under
the provisions of section five of said companion act.

Section 8. Elections Embraced in Act.—So long as the Act of Con-
gress known as Public Law No. 712 remains in full force and effect this
act shall apply to all elections for State, county, and city officers held
during the time this act remains in effect, and to no other elections. In
the event, however, that said Public Law No. 712 shall be repealed by
Act of Congress, or shall become inoperative in Virginia by reason of any
decision of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, or of the Supreme
Court of the United States, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General
to certify such fact to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and thereupon
and thereafter this act shall be applicable to all Presidential and Con-
gressional elections held during its effective period.

Section 9. Act to Become Inoperative in Certain Contingency. —In
the event that Congress shall enact a statute which extends to active mem-
bers of the armed forces with respect to elections for the State anid local
officers embraced in this act the same rights extended to them in Presi-
dential and Congressional elections by said Act of Congress known as
Public Law No. 712, and the Attorney General shall certify to the Gov-
ernor that in his opinion said Congressional Act dispenses with the
necessity for the payment of poll taxes and registration by members of
the armed forces as a prerequisite to their right to vote in said State and
local elections, the Governor may, in his discretion, issue a proclamation
stating said fact and that the necessity for the provisions of this act no
longer exist, and thereupon and thereafter this act shall be inoperative
so long as said Act of Congress remains in force and effect.

Section 10. Assistants to Secretary of Commonwealth.—The Secre-
tary of the Commonwealth shall have authority to employ such assistants
and clerical help and incur such other expense as may be necessary to
enable him to discharge the duties imposed on him under this act. The
said Secretary is hereby authorized to pay the salaries or other compen-
sation of such persons employed by him, and to pay for the cost of ac-
quiring, preparing and printing the necessary ballots and envelopes as
provided in this act. He shall apply to the United States, or the appro-
priate agency thereof, for such reimbursement of expenses incurred by
him as may be provided for by Federal laws or regulations.
Section 10-a. To supervise, aid and guide the Secretary of the Com-
monwealth in the performance of the duties imposed upon him by this act
and the two companion acts, originating as Senate Bills No. 185 and No.
270, there is hereby created the ‘Virginia War Voters’ Commission”,
hereinafter sometimes referred to as the Commission, composed of two
members to be appointed from among the members of the Senate of Vir-
ginia by the Lieutenant Governor, and three members to be appointed
from among the members of the House of Delegates by the Speaker of
the House. The members of the Commission first appointed under the
provisions of this act shall be appointed for a term of four years, and
until their successors are duly appointed and qualified. The Commission
may elect one of its members as chairman, one as vice-chairman and one
to act as secretary.

The members of the Commission shall receive as such no salary but
shall be paid their necessary traveling and other expenses incurred in at-
tendance upon meetings of the Commission and while otherwise engaged
in the discharge of their duties. Each such member shall also be paid the
sum of ten dollars per day for each day or portion thereof during which
he is necessarily engaged in the performance of his duties as a member
of the Commission.

Before entering upon the discharge of his duties, each member of the
Commission shall take the prescribed oath of office and, if required by
the Governor, each member of the Commission shall give bond, with
corporate surety, in such penalty as may be fixed by the Governor, con-
ditioned upon the faithful discharge of his duties. The premiums on
such bonds shall be paid as other expenses of the Commission are paid.
Three members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum. The head-
quarters of the Commission shall be in the office of the Secretary of the

ommonwealth in the city of Richmond.

The Commission may make such rules and regulations not in con-
flict with this act and the two said companion acts, and approved by
the Attorney General of Virginia, as may be necessary or desirable to
provide for the proper and faithful performance by the Secretary of the
Commonwealth of the duties imposed upon him by said three acts.

Section 11. Definition——The words “member of armed forces”, or
“‘member of land and naval forces’, or “member” shall mean all per-
sons in active service in the Army or Navy of the United States, in the
Army Nurse Corps, the Navy Nurse Corps, the Women’s Navy Re-
serve, and the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.

Section 12. Inconsistent Acts.—All acts or parts of acts inconsistent
with this act are, during the effective period of this act and with respect
to the elections embraced in this act from time to time, hereby repealed
to the extent of any such inconsistency, but upon the expiration of this
act, said other acts shall be restored to, and remain in, full force and
effect as to all matters, just as if this act had not been passed.

Section 13. Limitation of Duration of Act.—This act shall remain
in force until July first, nineteen hundred and forty-six, and on that
day shall expire and no longer be in effect.
Section 14. Separability——If any provisions of this act or the ap-
plication of such provision to any circumstance shall be held invalid, the
validity of the remainder of the act and the applicability of such pro-
vision to other circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

Section 15. Emergency Clause—An emergency existing, this act
shall be in force from the time of its passage.