CHAPTER 343
An Act to provide for a referendum in Louisa County on the issue of hunting deer with rifles.
Approved April 5, 1994
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. A special election may be held in Louisa County on the question of whether the hunting of deer with rifles should be allowed in the county upon the filing with the circuit court of the county of either (i) a petition signed by ten percent of the registered voters of the county in accordance with § 24.2-684.1 of the Code of Virginia or (ii) a petition adopted by resolution of the governing body of the county. Upon the filing of the petition, the circuit court shall, by order of record, require the regular election officials of the county to open the polls and take the sense of the qualified voters on the question.
The special election shall be held and conducted and the results thereof certified in accordance with § 24.2-684 of the Code of Virginia, provided that the special election shall be on the day of the next general election held at least sixty days after the date the court enters its order. The clerk of the circuit court of the county shall publish notice of the special election in a newspaper of general circulation in the county once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to such election. The ballots for use at the election shall be printed to state the question as follows:
"Shall the hunting of deer with rifles be allowed in Louisa County?"
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
Upon receipt of the certified results of the special election, the circuit court shall enter an order proclaiming the results of the election, and a duly certified copy of the order shall be transmitted to the governing body of the county. The results of the special election shall be binding, and the governing body shall proceed, in accordance with the preference of a majority of the voters voting in the election, by ordinance either to allow or prohibit deer hunting with rifles in the county. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to allow enactment of any ordinance containing provisions contrary to the provisions of Title 29.1 of the Code of Virginia or any regulation promulgated by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Once a special election has been held, no such special election on the same question shall be held within four years.