Voting in camps for members of Congress.
We have been asked for information respecting the provision made for the vote in camps in the approaching Congressional election, which takes place on the 6th of November.--As a large number of Virginia volunteers are interested in this matter, we append the Ordinance passed by the State Convention on the 1st of July, 1861:An Ordinance to authorize the qualified voters of the Commonwealth, who may be absent from home in the military service, to vote at the places their encampment for Electors for President and Vice President, and for members of Congress.
Be it ordained, That the qualified voters of the Commonwealth who may be absent from the counties or corporations of their residence in the military service of the State on the day of election for Electors of President and Vice President and for members of the House of Representatives of the Confederate States, may vote in said elections at such place or places within their encampment as the commander at such encampment shall designate, whether the said encampment shall be within the limits of the State or not. For each place of voting the commander of the encampment shall appoint a superintendent, three commissioners, and as many clerks as shall be necessary, who, after having been first duly sworn by him, shall perform the duties required of, and be liable to the penalties imposed upon, such officers under the election laws of the State. The said commissioners shall cause separate polls to be opened for the Electors of President and Vice President of the Confederate States, and for the election of a member of Congress. In the election of Electors for President and Vice President of the Confederate States so held at any such encampment, the commissioners, after performing the duties required of them by law, shall make out a return in the following form: ‘"We, A, B, commissioners for holding the election for Electors of President and Vice President of the Confederate States for the encampment at--,commanded by--, do here by certify that an election was held on the — day of — for said encampment, and that the number of votes herein specified, opposite to the names of the several persons following, was given for such persons as Electors for the State of Virginia, of a President and Vice President of the Confederate States, namely; (Here the list of the names of the Electors and votes is to follow.) Given under our hands this — day of--, in the — year--." ’ Which return, written in words and not figures, shall be signed by the commissioners. The said return, together with the poll book and the tickets given in by the voters, shall be forthwith dispatched by a special messenger to be appointed by the commandant of the encampment, to the Governor. And it shall be the duty of the Governor, in ascertaining what persons are elected, to count the votes so returned to him. In the election of members of the House of Representatives of the State in the Congress of the Confederate States, the said commissioners shall open polls for each district in the State entitled to representation in the Congress, if there be voters in said encampment for such district desiring to vote; and the qualified voters who present themselves to exercise the right of suffrage shall be asked by said commissioners from what district they come, and each voter shall vote for the member to represent the district from which he comes, and his name shall be recorded on the poll book opened for that district. And when the polls as aforesaid taken shall be closed, the commissioners holding the said election shall make out a certitied statement of the result of the election in such encampment for the several Congressional Districts for which votes were received, and the said commisioners shall deliver the poll books and the statement so made out to the commandant of the encampment, who shall appoint some person whose duty it shall be to take the poil taken for each district, and the statement of the result so much, to the court- house of the county first named in the law describing such districts, and shall be present there to meet the officers conducting the election at the courthouse of the several counties, on the fifteenth day after the commencement of said election. The subsequent proceeding shall be the same as prescribed by law for the action of the officers required to meet for deciding an election.
