Civil Government of Virginia / A Text-book for Schools Based Upon the Constitution of 1902 and Conforming to the Laws Enacted in Accordance Therewith

by William Fayette Fox

Election returns are the books containing the names of the candidates and the number of votes given for each. On the second day after the election the COMMISSIONERS OF ELECTION meet at the clerk's office and make out ABSTRACTS of the result of the voting and send them to the secretary of the commonwealth.

An abstract is a paper containing the name of the person or candidate who has received the highest number of votes, and the number of votes received. Abstracts are made out for governor and lieutenant-governor, for attorney-general, for secretary, for treasurer, for superintendent of public instruction, for commissioner of agriculture and immigration, for senators and delegates, for electors for President and Vice-President, for congressmen, and for county, district, and corporation officers voted for at the election. When the abstracts are made out they are certified and signed by the commissioners and attested by the clerk, who acts as clerk for the commissioners.

To CERTIFY is to state or declare that anything is true or correct. The commissioners certify the abstracts that they are correct, and they sign their names upon them. They are then CERTIFIED ABSTRACTS, and certified copies of the abstracts for State officers are sent to the secretary of the commonwealth. These abstracts are examined in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth, by the Board of State Canvassers, who determine who are elected.

The secretary of the commonwealth after recording the determinations of the commissioners makes out certificates of election for senators, delegates, congressmen, and State officers elected, except for the governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary, treasurer, and attorney-general. The certified abstracts of votes for these officers are transmitted to the speaker of the house of delegates by the secretary of the commonwealth, and the returns are opened and the votes counted and declared in the presence of the two houses of the general assembly within one week after the beginning of the session.

State Board of Education.

Superintendent of Public Instruction.

For the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction, see under Education, Chapter XI.

QUESTIONS.

1. What is the term of office of the secretary of the commonwealth?

2. What is his salary?