CHAPTER 525

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 24-823, 24-327, 24-328, 24-380, as amended,
24-884 and 24-387 of the Code of Virginia, relating to absent voters so
as to provide that the ballots of absent voters may be transmitted by
certified mail.

[S 291]

Approved March 30, 1956

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 24-323, 24-327, 24-328, 24-330 as amended, 24-334 and 24-337,
of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 24-323. The application shall contain necessary postage, or the cor-
rect amount in legal tender, necessary for registering or certifying the
ballot from the electoral board to such applicant. But the failure to enclose
necessary postage shall not render void a vote otherwise legally cast.

§ 24-327. The 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 applica-
tion 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 or certified mail, with return
receipt requested, or deliver in person to him the following:

(a) An envelope containing the folded ballot, sealed and marked “bal-
lot within. Do not open except in presence of a notary public” or other
officer mentioned in § 24-334.

) 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 or certified mail or by the applicant in person.

(d) A printed slip giving instructions as to the manner of making out
758 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [va., 1956

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.

§ 24-328. Any ballot returned to the electoral board in any manner
except by registered or certified 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.

§ 24-830. Before each 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 at least five days before any primary or
general election and at least two days before any second primary or special
election deliver one copy to his electoral board and one copy to the clerk to
whose office returns of the election are to be made. The registrar shall
make such delivery in person, taking a receipt therefor, or shall make such
delivery by registered or certified mail, with return receipt requested. In
the event delivery is by registered or certified mail the lists shall be de-
posited in the mails in time to arrive on or before the day prescribed herein
for personal delivery. Such clerk shall maintain such lists in his office
for a period of twelve months as public records open to public inspection
during office hours.

§ 24-334. Upon receipt of the registered or certified letter, for-
warded by the electoral board, the voter shall not open the sealed envelope,
marked “ballot within”, except in the presence of a notary public or other
officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments to deeds, and shall then
and there mark and refold the ballot without assistance and without making
known the manner of marking same. He shall then and there place the
ballot in the envelope provided for the purpose, seal the envelope, and fill in
and sign the voucher printed on the back of the envelope in the presence of
a notary public or other officer hereinabove provided, who shall witness
the same in writing. This envelope, together with the coupon, which must
be filled out and signed by the notary public, or other officer as herein pro-
vided, shall be enclosed within the envelope directed to the electoral board
which shall then and there be sealed, and shall be registered or certified
and mailed, with return receipt requested, to the electoral board, or de-
livered personally by the voter to the electoral board.

§ 24-337. An elector, receiving his ballot under the provisions of
§ 24-326, shall conform to all the requirements of the preceding section
except that in addition to the officers mentioned in § 24-334 an American
diplomatic or consular officer or consular agent, or the commanding officer,
or some commissioned officer, if the applicant be in the army or navy, shall
answer in all respects for and perform all the duties required of the notary
public or other officer mentioned in § 24-334; preserving, however, all the
secrecy of the ballot as therein provided; and the same shall by forthwith
registered or certified, with return receipt requested, and mailed.