offices and positions under the Constitution and laws of
this State, which denote the masculine gender shall be
construed to include the feminine gender, unless the
contrary intention is specifically expressed

SEC. 11. Every person, hereafter elected, or ap
pointed, to office, in this State, who shall refuse, or
neglect, to take the oath, or atfirmation of office, provided
tor in the ninth section of this. Article, shall be considered
as having refused to accept the said office, and a new
election, or appointment, shall be made, as in case of
refusal to accept, or resignation of an office, and any
person violating said oath, shall, on conviction thereof, in
a Court of Law, in addition to the penalties now, or
hereafter, to be imposed by Law, be thereafter incapable
ot holding any office of profit or trust in this State

SEC. 12. Except as otherwise specifically proMded
herein, a person is ineligible to enter upon the duues of,
or to continue to serve in, an electn e office created by or
pursuant to the provisions of this Constitution if the
person was not a registered voter in this State on the date
of the person's election or appointment to that term or if,
at any time thereafter and prior to completion of the term,
the person ceases to be a registered voter

ARTICLE II.

SECTION 1,²⁸ The executive power of the State shall
be vested in a Governor, whose term of office shall corn
mcnce on the third Wednesday of January next ensuing
his election, and continue for four years, and until his
successor shall have qualified, and a person who has served
two consecutiv e popular elective terms of office as Gover
nor shall be ineligible to succeed himself as Governor for
the term immediately following the second of said two
consecutive popular elective terms

SEC. 1A. There shall be a Lieutenant Governor, who
shall ha\ e only the duties delegated to him by the Governor
and shall have such compensation as the General Assembly
shall provide b\ law, except that beginning in the year 1978
the salary of the I leutenant Governor shall be as provided
under Section 21A of this Article No person who is
ineligible under this Constitution to be elected Governor
shall be ebgible to hold the office of Lieutenant Governor

SEC. IB. Each candidate who shall seek a nomma
Uon for Governor, under any method provided by law tor
such nomination, including primary elections, shall at the
time of filing tor said office designate a candidate for
Lieutenant Governor, and the names of the said candidate
tor Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be listed on
the primary election ballot, or otherwise considered for
nomination jointly with each other No candidate tor
Governor may designate a candidate tor Lieutenant Gov
crnor to contest for the said offices jointly with him
without the consent of the said candidate for Lieutenant
Governor, and no candidate for Lieutenant Governor may
designate a candidate tor Governor, to contest jointly for

said offices with him without the consent of the said
candidate for Governor, said consent to be in writing on
a form provided for such purpose and hied at the time the
said candidates shall file their certificates of candidacy, or
other documents by which they seek nomination In any
election, including a primary election, candidates for Go\
ernor and Lieutenant Governor shall be listed jointly on
the ballot, and a vote cast for the candidate for Governor
shall also be cast for Lieutenant Governor jointly listed on
the ballot with him, and the election of Gov ernor, or the
nomination of a candidate for Governor, also shall consti
tute the election for the same term, or the nomination, of
the Lieutenant Governor who was listed on the ballot or
was being considered jointly with him

SEC. 2. An election for Governor and Lieutenant
Governor, under this Constitution, shall be held on the
Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, in the
year nineteen hundred and seventy four, and on the same
day and month in every fourth year thereafter, at the places
of voting for Delegates to the General Assembly, and e\ cry
person qualified to vote for Delegates, shall be qualified
and entitled to vote for Governor and Lieutenant Gover
nor, the election to be held in the same manner as the
election of Delegates, and the returns thereof, under seal,
to be addressed to the Speaker of the House of Delegates,
and enclosed and transmitted to the Secretary of State, and
delivered to said Speaker, at the commencement of the
session of the General Assemble, next ensuing said elec
tion

SEC. 3.³² The Speaker of the House of Delegates shall
then open the said Returns, in the presence of both
Houses, and the persons having the highest number of
votes for these offices, and being Constitutionally eligible,
shall be the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, and shall
qualify, in the manner herein prescribed, on the third
Wednesday of January next ensuing his election, or as soon
thereafter as may be practicable

SEC. 4. If two or more sets of persons shall have the
highest and an equal number of votes tor Governor and
Lieutenant Governor, one set of them shall be chosen
Governor and Lieutenant Governor, by the Senate and
House of Delegates, and all questions in relation to the
eligibility of Governor and Lieutenant Governor, and to the
Returns of said election, and to the number and legality of
votes therein given, shall be determined by the House of
Delegates, and if the person having the highest number of
votes for Governor or tor Lieutenant Governor or both of
them, be ineligible, a person or persons shall be chosen by
the Senate and House of Delegates in place of the ineligible
person or persons Every election of Governor or of Lieu
tenant Governor, or both, bv the General Assembly shall be
determined by a joint majority of the Senate and House of
Delegates, and the vote shall be taken viva \ oce But it two
or more sets of persons shall ha\e the highest and an equal
number of votes, then, a second vote shall be taken, which
shall be confined to the sets of persons having an equal
number, and if the vote should again be equal, then the
election of Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall be