QUALIFIED, with regard to State officers, means having taken the
oath of office. The Constitution requires that every person,
before entering upon the discharge of any functions as an officer
of the State, must solemnly swear or affirm that he will support
and maintain the Constitution and laws of the State of Virginia,
and that he will faithfully perform the duty of the office to
which he has been elected. To take this oath is to QUALIFY for the
office.

The State is entitled to two U. S. Senators and ten
Representatives in Congress, and to twelve votes for President and
Vice-President in the Electoral College.

The ELECTORAL COLLEGE is the name given to the body of persons who
elect the President and Vice-President of the United States. At a
presidential election, which takes place every four years, the
people do not vote directly for the candidates who have been
nominated for President and Vice-President. They vote for persons
nominated to be ELECTORS, and each State has the right to choose
as many electors as it has senators and representatives in
Congress. Virginia has two senators and ten representatives in
Congress, therefore at the presidential election it chooses twelve
electors. This is what is meant by saying that it has twelve votes
in the Electoral College.

The members of the Electoral College do not meet all together to
elect the President and Vice-President. The electors of each State
meet in the capital of their own State in January after they are
elected, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President.
after which they send lists to the President of the United States