                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

INQUIRY INTO ELECTION AND RETURNS (§ 21-126)

Whenever the sense of the qualified voters of the district shall be taken on the
question whether the governing body shall issue bonds for one or more of the
purposes for which the sanitary district was created, election and returns shall
be subject to the inquiry, determination and judgment of the circuit court of
the county upon the written complaint of twenty-five or more of the qualified
voters of the district, of an undue election or false returns, two of whom shall
take an oath that the facts set forth in such complaint are true to the best of
their knowledge and belief, and the court shall, in judging of such election and
returns, proceed upon the merits thereof and determine concerning the same
according to the Constitution and laws of this Commonwealth, but such complaint
shall not be valid unless it shall have been filed within thirty days after the
election in the office of the clerk of the court. The governing body of the
county shall be made a defendant by summons or notice to its chairman of the
filing of the complaint, and after such service of notice on the chairman of
such governing body, either party, upon reasonable notice to the other, shall be
at liberty to take depositions to sustain or invalidate such election. Service
of notice on any three of the complainants shall be sufficient. The court shall
proceed at its next term after such service of summons or notice to determine
the contest without a jury on the evidence, oral or written, unless good cause
be shown for a continuance, and shall make a proper record of its judgment. If
the judgment be that the election was a valid one in favor of the issuance of
bonds in the district, the court shall make an order in conformity with §
21-125.

HISTORY: 1946, p. 181; Michie Suppl. 1946, § 1560z5.