Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia

by Dorothy Margaret Torpey

Qualified citizens of Virginia have the opportunity to elect three types of officials:

(1) national officials—the President and the Vice-President of the United States (every four years), two United States Senators (normally, every six years) and ten United States Representatives (normally, every two years).

(2) state officials—the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Attorney-General (every four years), forty State Senators (every four years) and one hundred House of Delegates members (every two years).

(3) local officials—County: Treasurer, Sheriff, Commonwealth Attorney, Commissioner of the Revenue (every four years), County Clerk (every eight years) and Assembly members or members of the Board of Supervisors; City: Treasurer, Sergeant, Mayor, Councilmen, City Attorney for the Commonwealth, City Commissioner of the Revenue (every four years) and Clerk of the City Courts (every eight years).

All elections by the people are by secret ballot. Generally, election officials are sworn in office the day of the election; one of the judges opens the ballot box publicly, turns it upside down to prove its emptiness, locks it and keeps it locked until the voting polls are closed. At the beginning of the election day, the election judges receive the registration books and the list of those citizens whose past three years poll tax has been paid. The election clerk receives a poll book, a blank book to be used for the official listing of the voters who come to the polls. After all election officials have received their necessary clerical supplies and their instructions, the polls are opened for voting. Thus, a citizen is immediately checked for his proper registration and poll tax payments when he comes to vote. He then receives a ballot which he alone marks secretly in a voting booth. Voting must be performed carefully because a defaced, improperly marked ballot may be challenged and thrown out. He folds his ballot to maintain secrecy and hands it to an election judge who places it immediately in the ballot box. It is illegal for a voter to be approached concerning a possible candidate any nearer than 100 feet from the polling place. Fifteen minutes before closing time for the polling place, one of the election judges will loudly proclaim this fact in front of the polling place. Exactly fifteen minutes later, the voting officially ends and only ballot holders at this time are allowed to cast their vote.

After the polls are closed, all the unused ballots are placed in a special envelope marked accordingly. The used ballots are tipped out of the ballot box onto the table. All the election officials present check the complete emptiness of the box. Representatives of each of the political parties are allowed to watch the correct counting of the votes. The election clerks make two sets of tally sheets which include the names of all the candidates which appeared on the ballot and each clerk keeps personal tally as the ballots are counted and the names of the candidates voted for are called off by the election judges. The usual tally method is used, and the word "tally" is spoken by each clerk as the diagonal fifth line is drawn so that any mistakes in the count made by either clerk can be caught quickly. Any time there is disagreement between the tally scores of the two clerks, a complete recounting of the ballots for the candidate whose score disagrees must take place. In case of a tie vote for a Congressman, Assemblyman, or county or city official, the outcome is determined by the Election Board, often by the flip of a coin. When all the votes have been tallied, an official written report is prepared on the back of each poll book: it includes the number of votes cast individually and totally for each candidate. This report is signed by the election judges and the election clerks. These poll books plus the used ballots and the unused ballots are submitted to the county or city clerk and later reviewed by the Board of Elections. The successful candidates then receive a certificate of election which makes them officially elected to their respective offices.

Every person qualified to vote is eligible to any office of the State, county, city or other subdivision of the State wherein he resides except as stated otherwise in the State Constitution. Persons eighteen years of age are eligible to the office of notary public. The terms of all officers elected begin on the first day of February after their election unless otherwise stated. The members of the General Assembly and all officers, executive and judicial, elected or appointed, take 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, 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."

Any person who is registered and qualified to vote at the next succeeding regular election is eligible to vote at any legalized primary election held for the nomination of any candidate for office.

Legislative, Executive and Judicial Departments

The separation of powers theory in government is considered so important that Article III of the Virginia State Constitution concerns solely this underlying principle: namely, that the legislative, executive and judicial departments are to be separate and distinct. To emphasize this idea, the Constitution further states that neither department shall "exercise the powers properly belonging to either of the others nor may any person exercise the power of more than one of them at the same time."

The Legislative Department—Since one of the chief functions of a government is to make laws, it is logical for Article IV of the Constitution to consist of a detailed description of the Legislative Department: its composition, membership, qualifications, powers and limitations.