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Library of Virginia
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Election-related Records of the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1897-1904. Accession 42355, State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.
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The Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth was responsible for monitoring election activities. Section 119 of the Code of Virginia (1887) proclaims that it is the duty of the various clerks of court to make and transmit to the Secretary of the Commonwealth a list of the election districts in their respective counties and corporations, as well as provide the number of voters in each district. In return, the Secretary of the Commonwealth was responsible for furnishing to the clerks poll books large enough to contain the voter information for that particular locality. According to Section 140 of the Code, once the poll books were certified, abstracts of the voting results were returned to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Joseph T. Lawless served as Secretary of the Commonwealth during this time.
Contains various election-related records, mostly in the form of correspondence and mailing lists.
This collection is arranged into the following series:
Series I. Election-related records, 1897-1904Comprised of polling precinct reports, almost all from 1897, which note how many districts existed in particular localities at that time. Some of the reports also include how many citizens were currently registered to vote, or had voted in the previous election. The mailing lists appear to have been created in order to ensure proper delivery of poll books and election law logs to the localities. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by locality, and the remaining material is grouped by type and arranged chronologically.