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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>87413</law_id><section_number>15.2-3540</section_number><catch_line>Result of elections; determination of form of government</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>15.2-3541</reference><reference>15.2-3548</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="15.2">Counties, Cities and Towns</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="III">Boundary Adjustments and Changes of Status of Counties, Cities and Towns</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="35">Consolidation of Localities</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="2">Consolidation of Certain Counties, Cities and Towns</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>The ballots shall be counted and returns made and canvassed as in other elections, and the results certified by the electoral board to each of the <span class="dictionary">judges</span> of the <span class="dictionary">circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">courts</span> having <span class="dictionary">jurisdiction</span> in the localities proposing to be consolidated. If it appears by the report that a majority of the <span class="dictionary">voters</span> of each <span class="dictionary">locality</span> voting on the question submitted are in favor of the <span class="dictionary">consolidation</span> provided that no separate vote on the question shall be required in <span class="dictionary">towns</span> within a <span class="dictionary">county</span> when such <span class="dictionary">county</span> proposes to consolidate in its entirety with a <span class="dictionary">county</span> or <span class="dictionary">city</span> having a common boundary, the <span class="dictionary">judge</span> or <span class="dictionary">judges</span> shall enter such <span class="dictionary">fact</span> of record in each such <span class="dictionary">county</span> and <span class="dictionary">city</span> and shall notify the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Upon the day prescribed in the <span class="dictionary">order</span> for the <span class="dictionary">consolidation</span> agreement to become effective, the localities shall be consolidated into a <span class="dictionary">city</span> or into a <span class="dictionary">city</span> and one or more counties or into a single <span class="dictionary">county</span> as proposed in the <span class="dictionary">consolidation</span> agreement.
		If the election offers to the <span class="dictionary">voters</span> a choice between forms of government, the question shall be determined by a majority of all the <span class="dictionary">voters</span> voting in such election and reported accordingly.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 15-226; 1962, c. 623, &#xA7; 15.1-1140; 1970, c. 751; 1975, c. 214; 1978, c. 642; 1979, c. 85; 1997, c. 587.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
