Civil Government of Virginia | Page 5

a crime and found
guilty. BRIBERY in elections is buying or selling votes, or giving
money or payment in any form to a voter for voting for any candidate.
EMBEZZLEMENT is the crime a person commits who takes for his
own use the money or property of others that has been entrusted to his
care. TREASON is to make war against or try to overthrow or destroy
the government of one's own country. FELONY is a crime that may be
punished by death or imprisonment in state prison. PETIT LARCENY

is the stealing of goods of small value.
Every voter is required to be registered. This is a most important
proceeding, as it insures the purity of the ballot and the intelligent
exercise of the right of franchise. Elections. Shall be by ballot; for State,
county, corporation and district officers, shall be held the Tuesday after
the first Monday in November; except for mayors and councils of cities
and towns, which shall be the second Tuesday of June.
State executive officers elected at a general election shall enter upon
the duties of their respective offices the first of February next thereafter;
members of the House of Delegates and all county, corporation, and
district officers on the first of January, and Senators on the second
Wednesday in January next thereafter; and mayors and councils of
cities and towns on the first of September next succeeding their
election. State executive officers elected by the General Assembly enter
upon their duties the first of March following their election.
They shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices
until their successors shall have qualified.
The BALLOT is the printed list containing the names of all the
candidates to be voted for at an election. The places where the people
vote are called POLLS, and they are kept open for one day-- from
sunrise to sunset. At the polls there are officers called judges or clerks
of election. When the voter goes to the poll on election day, one of the
judges hands him a ballot. With the ballot he goes alone into a small
compartment or BOOTH, where there is a desk with a pencil or pen
and ink. There he draws a mark with the pen or pencil through the
names of the candidates he does not wish to vote for, leaving the names
of the candidates he votes for unmarked He then, folds up the ballot,
with the names of the candidates on the inside, and hands it to one of
the judges, who drops it into a box, where it remains until the votes are
counted after the poll closes. The candidates who receive the highest
number of votes are declared elected. This is done by the Board of
State Canvassers (which see).
STATE OFFICERS are officers elected by the voters of the whole
State. The governor, the lieutenant-governor, and attorney-general are
State officers.
A CORPORATION is a body or number of persons formed and
authorized by law to carry on business under one name as a single

person. Banks and railroad and manufacturing companies are
corporations. They are called private corporations because the business
they do is for the benefit of private individuals. The people of cities and
towns have power by law to carry on the government of their cities and
towns as corporations. They are called public corporations because they
are formed for the purpose of government, and act for the whole people
(see under Government of Cities and Towns)
QUALIFIED, with regard to State officers, means having taken the
oath of office. The Constitution requires that every person, before
entering upon the discharge of any functions as an officer of the State,
must solemnly swear or affirm that he will support and maintain the
Constitution and laws of the State of Virginia, and that he will
faithfully perform the duty of the office to which he has been elected.
To take this oath is to QUALIFY for the office.
The State is entitled to two U. S. Senators and ten Representatives in
Congress, and to twelve votes for President and Vice-President in the
Electoral College.
The ELECTORAL COLLEGE is the name given to the body of
persons who elect the President and Vice-President of the United States.
At a presidential election, which takes place every four years, the
people do not vote directly for the candidates who have been nominated
for President and Vice-President. They vote for persons nominated to
be ELECTORS, and each State has the right to choose as many electors
as it has senators and representatives in Congress. Virginia has two
senators and ten representatives in Congress, therefore at the
presidential election it chooses twelve electors. This is what is meant
by saying that it has twelve votes in the Electoral College.
The members