In deciding any contest of a primary election, if the court can determine the candidate who has received a plurality of valid votes in the primary, it shall certify the name of that candidate to the State Board and the proper electoral board or boards. The candidate so certified shall be the party nominee and his name shall be printed on the official ballot for the election for which the primary was held. The name of no other person who was a candidate for the contested office in the primary shall be printed on the official ballots as a candidate for that office.

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Terms Used In Virginia Code 24.2-813

  • Board: means the State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Candidate: means a person who seeks or campaigns for an office of the Commonwealth or one of its governmental units in a general, primary, or special election and who is qualified to have his name placed on the ballot for the office. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Election: means a general, primary, or special election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
  • Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245

If the court is unable to determine which primary candidate received a plurality of valid votes or if the court decides that there has been no valid election, the party nominee shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of § 24.2-539.

Code 1950, § 24-395.1; 1952, c. 489; 1970, c. 462, § 24.1-246; 1993, c. 641.