CHAPTER 260

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 24-300, 24-305 and 24-807 of the Code of
Virginia, relating to requirements for preparation of voting machines,
regulations for use of such machines, and providing for inaependent
allots.

[H 382]
Approved March 14, 1962

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia: —

1. That §§ 24-300, 24-305 and 24-307 of the Code of Virginia be amended
and reenacted as follows:

§ 24-300. Before preparing a voting machine for any election *,
written notice shall be mailed to the chairman of the local committee of
each of the two political parties which at the general election next
preceding, cast the highest and next highest number of votes, and in a
primary election, to the chairman of the local committee of the political
party holding such primary, stating the time, and place where the machines
will be prepared, at which time one representative of each such political
party, or in the event of a primary election, one representative of the
party holding such primary election, shall be afforded an opportunity
to see that the machines are in proper condition for use at the election.
When a machine has been so examined by such representatives it shall be
sealed with a numbered metal seal in their presence. Such representatives
shall certify as to the numbers of the machines, that all counters are set
at zero (000), and as to the number registered on the protective counter,
and the number on the seal.

§ 24-305. At any and all elections at which voting machines are
used, the exterior of the voting machine and every part of the polling
place shall be in plain view of the judges and clerks, if there be clerks, of
election. The voting machine shall be placed * at least four feet from
any table whereat any of the election judges and clerks, if there be clerks,
may be engaged or seated. * The judges of election shall not themselves be,
or permit any other person to be, in any position or near any position
that will permit them to see or ascertain how a voter votes or how he
has voted. One of the judges of election may inspect the face of the
machine after each voter has cast his vote, to see that the ballots on the
face of the machine are in their proper places and that the machine
has not been injured. During an election the door or other covering of
the counter compartment of the machine shall not be unlocked or open
or the counters exposed except for good and sufficient reasons, a statement
of which shall be made and signed by the judges of election and attached
to the returns of election. No person shall be permitted in or about the
polling room except as now provided by law in elections where paper
ballots and ballot boxes are used.

§ 24-307. Ballots voted for any person whose name does not appear
on the machine as a * candidate for office are herein referred to
as independent ballots. When two or more persons are to be elected to
the same office, and the machine requires that all independent ballots
voted for that office be deposited, written or affixed in a single receptacle
or device, an elector may vote in or by such receptacle or device for one
or more persons whose names do not appear upon the machine with or
without the names of one or more persons whose names do so appear.
With that exception and except for presidential electors, no independent
ballot shall be voted for any person for any office whose name appears
on the machine as a * candidate for that office; any independent ballot
so voted shall not be counted. An independent ballot must be cast in its
appropriate place on the machine, or it shall be void and not counted.

No independent ballot will be counted when it 1s apparent to the judges
of the election that a voter has voted for the same person for the same
office more than one time.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.