24.2-644 - Voting by paper ballot; voting for presidential electors; write-in votes.
§ 24.2-644. Voting by paper ballot; voting for presidential electors;write-in votes.
A. The qualified voter shall take the official paper ballot and enter thevoting booth. After entering the voting booth, the qualified voter shall markimmediately preceding the name of each candidate for whom he wishes to vote acheck (√) or a cross (X or +) or a line (-) in the square provided for suchpurpose, leaving unmarked the square preceding the name of each candidate forwhom he does not wish to vote. Any ballot marked so that the intent of thevoter is clear shall be counted.
B. The qualified voter at a presidential election shall mark the squarepreceding the names and party designation for his choice of candidates forPresident and Vice President. His ballot so marked shall be counted as if hehad marked squares preceding the names of the individual electors affiliatedwith his choice for President and Vice President. The qualified voter at apresidential election may cast a write-in vote for President and VicePresident as provided in subsections C and D of this section.
C. At all elections except primary elections it shall be lawful for any voterto vote for any person other than the listed candidates for the office bywriting or hand printing the person's name on the official ballot. No checkor other mark shall be required to cast a valid write-in vote. Write-in votesfor President and Vice President shall be counted only for candidates whohave filed a joint declaration of intent to be write-in candidates for theoffices with the Secretary of the State Board not less than ten days beforethe date of the presidential election. The declaration of intent shall be ona form prescribed by the State Board and shall include a list of presidentialelectors pledged to those candidates which equals the whole number ofsenators and representatives to which the Commonwealth at that time isentitled in the Congress of the United States. A write-in vote cast forcandidates for President and Vice President, or for a candidate for Presidentonly, shall be counted for the individual electors listed on the declarationof intent as pledged to those candidates.
D. No write-in vote shall be counted unless the name is entered on the ballotin conformance with this section. No write-in vote shall be counted when itis apparent to the officers of election that a voter has voted for the sameperson for the same office more than one time. No write-in vote shall becounted for an office for any person whose name appears on the ballot as acandidate for that office. If two or more persons are to be elected to thesame office, a voter may vote for one or more persons whose names do appearon the ballot and one or more persons whose names do not appear on theballot, provided that the total number of votes cast by him for that officedoes not exceed the number of persons to be elected to that office.
(Code 1950, §§ 24-245, 24-252, 24-290.5, 24-307; 1952, c. 581; 1962, cc. 260,536; 1964, c. 593; 1970, c. 462, §§ 24.1-129, 24.1-161, 24.1-217; 1973, c.30; 1975, c. 515; 1984, c. 234; 1985, cc. 197, 458; 1987, c. 349; 1990, c.214; 1993, c. 641; 1997, c. 100.)