Chap. 377.—An ACT to amend and reenact Sections 203 and 205, as amended,
of ae Code of Virginia, relating to voting without personal appearance 2 ay
polls,

Approved April 1, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections two hundred three and two hundred five, as
amended, of the Code of Virginia, be amended and reenacted as follows:

Section 203. Application to registrar for ballot—(a) 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, special
or general election in which he desires to vote, if he be within the con-
fines of the United States, or not less than five days nor more than
ninety days, if he be in the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Canal
Zone, or in territory over which the United States has no jurisdiction.
The application may be handed by the applicant himself 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 from the electoral board to such applicant. But failure to
enclose necessary postage shall not render void a vote otherwise legally

st.

(b) The application shall be accompanied by a statement, made
before at least one witness, who shall subscribe it to the effect that for
some one of the reasons set out in the preceding section he expects to
be absent from his city, town or precinct on the day of election, or that
he will be physically unable to go in person to the polls on the day of
election. The statement shall also state that the applicant is a resident
of the precinct in which he offers to vote, and shall show whether he is
exempt from the payment of the poll tax, and if so, the reason therefor.

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

(d) The provisions of this section as amended shall apply to any
special election held after the effective date of this act regardless of
whether or not application in a particular case for a ballot to be used
in the special election was made before or after the effective date of this
act; and any such ballot which is duly returned to the electoral board
shall be counted if the elector be qualified to vote in the election and has
complied with all the provisions of this chapter.

Section 205. Duty of registrar and electoral board on receipt of
application—tThe registrar, upon receipt of the application for a ballot,
if the applicant is duly registered in his precinct, shall enroll the
name and address of the applicant on the list to be kept by him for the
purpose and shall forward the application with the required statement
attached, to the secretary of the electoral board, noting thereon that
the applicant is a registered voter of his precinct, or the registrar may
approve the application and return it to the applicant for delivery to the
secretary of the electoral board. If it then appear to the electoral board
that the applicant is a registered voter of the precinct in which he offers
to vote, the electoral board shall send to the applicant by registered mail,
or deliver in person to him the following:

(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 eight).

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

(c) <A properly addressed envelope for the return of the ballot
to the electoral board by registered mail or by the applicant in person.

(d) A printed slip giving instruction as to the manner of making
out the voucher on the envelope for the return of the ballot hereinafter
mentioned and how the same shall be returned.

(e) A “coupon”, the form of which is hereinafter given.

Any ballot returned to the electoral board in any manner except by
registered mail or by the applicant in person shall be void. The board
shall mark on each envelope whether it was returned by mail or in person
by the voter.

No registrar shall solicit any application for a ballot. Three days be-
fore the day of election the registrar shall make out in duplicate a list
of the names and addresses of all persons who have applied to him
for such ballots, and shall post one copy thereof in a conspicuous place
at the polling place of his precinct, and shall transmit the other, either
by mail or in person, to the clerk to whose office returns of the election
are to be made.

The printed slip of instructions provided for in paragraph (d) of
this section 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 preparation of his ballot which is in contraven-
tion of the Constitution of Virginia, but it shall 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 electoral board as provided in section two hundred eight.
742 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [va., 1948