cities and towns of the State during the years nineteen hundred
and two and nineteen hundred and three at such times and in such
manner as may be prescribed by an ordinance of this Convention. At
such registrations every male citizen of the United States having
the qualifications of age and residence required in section
Eighteen shall be entitled to register, if he be:
First. A person who, prior to the adoption of this Constitution,
served in time of war in the army or navy of the United States, of
the Confederate States, or of any state of the United States or of
the Confederate States; or,
Second. A son of any such person; or,
Third. A person, who owns property, upon which, for the year next
preceding that in which he offers to register, state taxes
aggregating at least one dollar have been paid; or,
Fourth. A person able to read any section of this Constitution
submitted to him by the officers of registration and to give a
reasonable explanation of the same; or, if unable to read such
section, able to understand and give a reasonable explanation
thereof when read to him by the officers.
A roll containing the names of all persons thus registered, sworn
to and certified by the officers of registration, shall be filed,
for record and preservation, in the clerk's office of the circuit
court of the county, or the clerk's office of the corporation
court of the city, as the case may be. Persons thus enrolled shall
not be required to register again, unless they shall have ceased
to be residents of the State, or become disqualified by section
Twenty-three. Any person denied registration under this section
shall have the right of appeal to the circuit court of his county,
or the corporation court of his city, or to the judge thereof in
vacation.
SEC. 20. After the first day of January, nineteen hundred and
four, every male citizen of the United States, having the
qualifications of age and residence required in section Eighteen,
shall be entitled to register, provided:
First. That he has personally paid to the proper officer all state
poll taxes assessed or assessable against him, under this or the
former Constitution, for the three years next preceding that in
which he offers to register; or, if he come of age at such time
that no poll tax shall have been assessable against him for the
year preceding the year in which he offers to register, has paid
one dollar and fifty cents, in satisfaction of the first year's
poll tax assessable against him; and,
Second. That, unless physically unable, he make application to
register in his own handwriting, without aid, suggestion, or
memorandum, in the presence of the registration officers, stating
therein his name, age, date and place of birth, residence and
occupation at the time and for the two years next preceding, and
whether he has previously voted, and, if so, the state, county,
and precinct in which he voted last; and,
Third. That he answer on oath any and all questions affecting his
qualifications as an elector, submitted to him by the officers of
registration, which questions, and his answers thereto, shall be
reduced to writing, certified by the said officers, and preserved
as a part of their official records.
SEC. 21. Any person registered under either of the last two
sections, shall have the right to vote for members of the General
Assembly and all officers elective by the people, subject to the
following conditions:
That he, unless exempted by section Twenty-two, shall, as a
prerequisite to the right to vote after the first day of January,
nineteen hundred and four, personally pay, at least six months
prior to the election, all state poll taxes assessed or assessable
against him, under this Constitution, during the three years next
preceding that in which he offers to vote; provided that, if he
register after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and
four, he shall, unless physically unable, prepare and deposit his
ballot without aid, on such printed form as the law may prescribe;
but any voter registered prior to that date may be aided in the
preparation of his ballot by such officer of election as he
himself may designate.
SEC. 22. No person who, during the late war between the States,
served in the army or navy of the United States, or the
Confederate States, or any state of the United States, or of the
Confederate States, shall at any time be required to pay a poll
tax as a prerequisite to the right to register or vote. The
collection of the state poll tax assessed against any one shall
not be enforced by legal process until the same has become three
years past due.
SEC. 23. The following persons shall be excluded from registering
and voting: Idiots, insane persons, and paupers; persons who,
prior to the adoption of this Constitution, were disqualified from
voting, by conviction of crime, either within or without this
State, and whose disabilities shall not have been removed; persons
convicted after the adoption of this Constitution, either within
or without this State, of treason, or of any felony, bribery,
petit larceny, obtaining money or property under false pretences,
embezzlement, forgery, or perjury; persons who, while citizens of
this State, after the adoption of this Constitution, have fought a
duel with a deadly weapon, or sent or accepted a challenge to
fight such duel, either within or without this State, or knowingly
conveyed a challenge, or aided or assisted in any way in the
fighting of such duel.
SEC. 24. No officer, soldier, seaman, or marine of the United
States army or navy shall be deemed to have gained a residence as
to the right of suffrage, in the State, or in any county, city or
town thereof, by reason of being stationed therein; nor shall an
inmate of any charitable institution or a student in any
institution of learning, be regarded as having either gained or
lost a residence, as to the right of suffrage, by reason of his
location or sojourn in such institution.
SEC. 25. The General Assembly shall provide for the annual
registration of voters under section Twenty, for an appeal by any
person denied registration, for the correction of illegal or
fraudulent registration, thereunder, and also for the proper
transfer of all voters registered under this Constitution.
SEC. 26. Any person who, in respect to age or residence, would be
qualified to vote at the next election, shall be admitted to
registration, notwithstanding that at the time thereof he is not
so qualified, and shall be entitled to vote at said election if
then qualified under the provisions of this Constitution.
SEC. 27. All elections by the people shall be by ballot; all
elections by any representative body shall be viva voce, and the
vote recorded in the journal thereof.
The ballot-box shall be kept in public view during all elections,
and shall not be opened, nor the ballots canvassed or counted, in
secret.
So far as consistent with the provisions of this Constitution, the
absolute secrecy of the ballot shall be maintained.
SEC. 28. The General Assembly shall provide for ballots without
any distinguishing mark or symbol, for use in all state, county,
city, and other elections by the people, and the form thereof
shall be the same in all places where any such election is held.
All ballots shall contain the names of the candidates, and of the
offices to be filled, in, clear print and in due and orderly
succession; but any voter may erase any name and insert another.
SEC. 29. No voter, during the time of holding any election at
which he is entitled to vote, shall be compelled to perform
military service, except in time of war or public danger; to
attend any court as suitor, juror, or witness; and no voter shall
be subject to arrest under any civil process during his attendance
at election or in going to or returning therefrom.
SEC. 30. The General Assembly may prescribe a property
qualification not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars for
voters in any county or subdivision thereof, or city or town, as a
prerequisite for voting in any election for officers, other than
the members of the General Assembly, to be wholly elected by the
voters of such county or subdivision thereof, or city, or town;
such action, if taken, to be had upon the initiative of a
representative in the General Assembly of the county, city, or
town affected: provided, that the General Assembly in its
discretion may make such exemptions from the operation of said
property qualification as shall not be in conflict with the
Constitution of the United States.
SEC. 31. There shall be in each county and city an electoral
board, composed of three members, appointed by the circuit court
of the county-court--the corporation court of the city, or the
judge of the court in vacation. Of those first appointed, one
shall be appointed for a term of one year, one for a term of two
years, and one for a term of three years; and thereafter their
successors shall be appointed for the full term of three years.
Any vacancy occurring in any board shall be filled by the same
authority for the unexpired term.
Each electoral board shall appoint the judges, clerks, and
registrars of election for its county or city; and, in appointing
judges of election, representation as far as possible shall be
given to each of the two political parties which, at the general
election next preceding their appointment, cast the highest and
next highest number of votes. No person, nor the deputy of any
person, holding any office or post of profit or emolument, under
the United States Government, or who is in the employment of such
government, or holding any elective office of profit or trust in
the State, or in any county, city, or town thereof, shall be
appointed a member of the electoral board, or registrar, or judge
of election.
SEC. 32. Every person qualified to vote shall be eligible to any
office of the State or of any county, city, town, or other
subdivision of the State, wherein he resides, except as otherwise
provided in this Constitution, and except that this provision as
to residence shall not apply to any office elective by the people
where the law provides otherwise. Men and women eighteen years of
age shall be eligible to the office of notary public, and
qualified to execute the bonds required of them in that capacity.
SEC. 33. The terms of all officers elected under this Constitution
shall begin on the first day of February next succeeding their
election, unless otherwise provided in this Constitution. All
officers, elected or appointed, shall continue to discharge the
duties of their offices after their terms of service have expired
until their successors have qualified.
SEC. 34. Members of the General Assembly and all officers,
executive and judicial, elected or appointed after this
Constitution goes into effect, shall, before they enter on the
performance of their public duties, severally take and subscribe
the following oath or affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the
Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the
State of Virginia ordained by the Convention which assembled in
the city of Richmond on the twelfth day of June, nineteen hundred
and one, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and
perform all the duties incumbent on me as, according to the best
of my ability; so help me God."
SEC. 35. No person shall vote at any legalized primary election
for the nomination of any candidate for office unless he is at the
time registered and qualified to vote at the next succeeding
election.
SEC. 36. The General Assembly shall enact such laws as are
necessary and proper for the purpose of securing the regularity
and purity of general, local and primary elections, and preventing
and punishing any corrupt practices in connection therewith; and
shall have power, in addition to other penalties and punishments
now or hereafter prescribed by law for such offences, to provide
that persons convicted of them shall thereafter be disqualified
from voting or holding office.
SEC. 37. The General Assembly may provide for the use, throughout
the State or in any one or more counties, cities, or towns in any
election, of machines for receiving, recording, and counting the
votes cast thereat: provided, that the secrecy of the voting be
not thereby impaired.
SEC. 38. After the first day of January, nineteen hundred and
four, the treasurer of each county and city shall, at least five
months before each regular election, file with the clerk of the
circuit court of his county, or of the corporation court of his
city, a list of all persons in his county or city, who have paid
not later than six months prior to such election, the state poll
taxes required by this Constitution during the three years next
preceding that in which such election is held; which list shall be
arranged alphabetically, by magisterial districts or wards, shall
state the white and colored persons separately, and shall be
verified by the oath of the treasurer. The clerk, within ten days
from the receipt of the list, shall make and certify a sufficient
number of copies thereof, and shall deliver one copy for each
voting place in his county or city, to the sheriff of the county
or sergeant of the city, whose duty it shall be to post one copy,
without delay, at each of the voting places, and, within ten days
from the receipt thereof, to make return on oath to the clerk, as
to the places where and dates at which said copies were
respectively posted; which return the clerk shall record in a book
kept in his office for the purpose; and he shall keep in his
office for public inspection, for at least sixty days after
receiving the list, not less than ten certified copies thereof,
and also cause the list to be published in such other manner as
may be prescribed by law; the original list returned by the
treasurer shall be filed and preserved by the clerk among the
public records of his office for at least five years after
receiving the same. Within thirty days after the list has been so
posted, any person who shall have paid his capitation tax, but
whose name is omitted from the certified list, may, after five
days' written notice to the treasurer, apply to the circuit court
of his county, or corporation court of his city, or to the judge
thereof in vacation, to have the same corrected and his name
entered thereon, which application the court or judge shall
promptly hear and decide.
The clerk shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, with the poll-
books, at a reasonable time before every election, to one of the
judges of election of each precinct of his county or city, a like
certified copy of the list, which shall be conclusive evidence of
the facts therein stated for the purpose of voting. The clerk
shall also,--within sixty days after the filing of the list by the
treasurer, forward a certified copy thereof, with such corrections
as may have been made by order of the court or judge, to the
Auditor of Public Accounts, who shall charge the amount of the
poll taxes stated therein to such treasurer unless previously
accounted for.
Further evidence of the prepayment of the capitation taxes
required by this Constitution, as a prerequisite to the right to
register and vote, may be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE III.
DIVISION OF POWERS.
SEC. 39. Except as hereinafter provided, the legislative,
executive, and judiciary departments shall be separate and
distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging
to either of the others, nor any person exercise the power of more
than one of them at the same time.
ARTICLE IV.
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.
SEC. 40. The legislative power of the State shall be vested in a
General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of
Delegates.
SEC. 41. The Senate shall consist of not more than forty and not
less than thirty-three members, who shall be elected quadrennially
by the voters of the several senatorial districts, on the Tuesday
succeeding the first Monday in November.
SEC. 42. The House of Delegates shall consist of not more than one
hundred and not less than ninety members, who shall be elected
biennially by the voters of the several house districts, on the
Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November.
SEC. 43. The apportionment of the State into senatorial and house
districts, made by the acts of the General Assembly, approved
April the second, nineteen hundred and two, is hereby adopted; but
a re-apportionment may be made in the year nineteen hundred and
six, and shall be made in the year nineteen hundred and twelve,
and every tenth year thereafter.
SEC. 44. Any person may be elected senator who, at the time of
election, is actually a resident of the senatorial district and
qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly; and any
person may be elected a member of the House of Delegates who, at
the time of election, is actually a resident of the house district
and qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly. But no
person holding a salaried office under the state government, and
no judge of any court, attorney for the Commonwealth, sheriff,
sergeant, treasurer, assessor of taxes, commissioner of the
revenue, collector of taxes, or clerk of any court, shall be a
member of either house of the General Assembly during his
continuance in office, and the election of any such person to
either house of the General Assembly, and his qualification as a
member thereof, shall vacate any such office held by him; and no
person holding any office or post of profit or emolument under the
United States Government or who is in the employment of such
government, shall be eligible to either house. The removal of a
senator or delegate from the district for which he is elected,
shall vacate his office.
SEC. 45. The members of the General Assembly shall receive for
their services a salary to be fixed by law and paid from the
public treasury; but no act increasing such salary shall take
effect until after the end of the term for which the members
voting thereon were elected; and no member during the term for
which he shall have been elected, shall be appointed or elected to
any civil office of profit in the State except offices filled by
election by the people.
SEC. 46. The General Assembly shall meet once in two years on the
second Wednesday in January next succeeding the election of the
members of the House of Delegates and not oftener unless convened
in the manner prescribed by this Constitution. No session of the
General Assembly, after the first under this Constitution, shall
continue longer than sixty days; but with the concurrence of
three-fifths of the members elected to each house, the session may
be extended for a period not exceeding thirty days. Except for the
first session held under this Constitution, members shall be
allowed a salary for not exceeding sixty days at any regular
session, and for not exceeding thirty days at any extra session.
Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn to
another place nor for more than three days. A majority of the
members elected to each house shall constitute a quorum to do
business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and
shall have power to compel the attendance of members in such
manner and under such penalty as each house may prescribe.
SEC. 47. The House of Delegates shall choose its own speaker; and,
in the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor, or when he shall
exercise the office of Governor, the Senate shall choose from
their own body a president pro tempore. Each house shall select
its officers, settle its rules of procedure, and direct writs of
election for supplying vacancies which may occur during the
session of the General Assembly; but, if vacancies occur during
the recess, such writs may be issued by the Governor, under such
regulations as may be prescribed by law. Each house shall judge of
the election, qualification, and returns of its members; may
punish them for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of
two-thirds, expel a member.
SEC. 48. Members of the General Assembly shall, in all cases,
except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from
arrest during the sessions of their respective houses; and for any
speech or debate in either house shall not be questioned in any
other place. They shall not be subject to arrest, under any civil
process, during the sessions of the General Assembly, or the
fifteen days next before the beginning or after the ending of any
session.
SEC. 49. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, which
shall be published from time to time, and the yeas and nays of the
members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of
one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
SEC. 50. No law shall be enacted except by bill. A bill may
originate in either house, to be approved or rejected by the
other, or may be amended by either, with the concurrence of the
other.
No bill shall become a law unless, prior to its passage, it has
been,
(a) Referred to a committee of each house, considered by such
committee in session, and reported;
(b) Printed by the house, in which it originated, prior to its
passage therein;
(c) Read at length on three different calendar days in each house;
and unless,
(d) A yea and nay vote has been taken in each house upon its final
passage, the names of the members voting for and against entered
on the journal, and a majority of those voting, which shall
include at least two-fifths of the members elected to each house,
recorded in the affirmative.
And only in the manner required in subdivision (d) of this section
shall an amendment to a bill by one house be concurred in by the
other, or a conference report be adopted by either house, or
either house discharge a committee from the consideration of a
bill and consider the same as if reported; provided that the
printing and reading, or either, required in subdivisions (b) and
(c) of this section, may be dispensed with in a bill to codify the
laws of the State, and in any case of emergency by a vote of four-
fifths of the members voting in each house taken by the yeas and
nays, the names of the members voting for and against, entered on
the journal; and provided further, that no bill which creates, or
establishes a new office, or which creates, continues, or revives
a debt or charge, or makes, continues or revives any appropriation
of public or trust money, or property, or releases, discharges or
commutes any claim or demand of the State, or which imposes,
continues or revives a tax, shall be passed except by the
affirmative vote of a majority of all the members elected to each
house, the vote to be by the yeas and nays, and the names of the
members voting for and against, entered on the journal. Every law
imposing, continuing or reviving a tax shall specifically state
such tax and no law shall be construed as so stating such tax,
which requires a reference to any other law or any other tax. The
presiding officer of each house shall, in the presence of the
house over which he presides, sign every bill that has been passed
by both houses and duly enrolled. Immediately before this is done,
all other business being suspended, the title of the bill shall be
publicly read. The fact of signing shall be entered on the
journal.
SEC. 51. There shall be a joint committee of the General Assembly,
consisting of seven members appointed by the House of Delegates,
and five members appointed by the Senate, which shall be a
standing committee on special, private, and local legislation.
Before reference to a committee, as provided by section Fifty, any
special, private, or local bill introduced in either house shall
be referred to and considered by such joint committee and returned
to the house in which it originated with a statement in writing
whether the object of the bill can be accomplished under general
law or by court proceeding; whereupon, the bill, with the
accompanying statement, shall take the course provided by section
Fifty. The joint committee may be discharged from the
consideration of a bill by the house in which it originated in the
manner provided in section Fifty for the discharge of other
committees.