Section 3.

The other House of the General Assembly shall be called the Senate, and shall consist of thirty two members, of whom thirteen shall be chosen for and by the Counties lying West of the Blue Ridge of mountains, and nineteen for and by the Counties, Cities, towns and boroughs lying East thereof; and for the election of whom, the Counties, Cities, towns and boroughs shall be divided into thirty two districts, as herein after provided. Each County of the respective districts at the time of the first election of its Delegate or Delegates under this Constitution, shall vote for one Senator; and the Sheriffs or other officers holding the election for each County, city, town or borough, within five days at farthest after the last County, City, town or borough election in the district, shall meet at some convenient place, and from the polls so taken in their respective Counties, Cities, towns or boroughs, return as a Senator the person who shall have the greatest number of votes in the whole district. To keep up this Assembly by rotation, the districts shall be equally divided into four classes, and numbered by lot. At the end of one year after the first general election the eight members elected by the first division shall be displaced and the vacancies thereby occasioned, supplied from such class or division by new election in the manner aforesaid. This rotation shall be applied to each division according to its number, and continued in due order annually. And for the election of Senators, the Counties of Brooke, Ohio and Tyler, shall form one district: the Counties of Monongalia, Preston and Randolph, shall form another district: the Counties of Harrison, Lewis and Wood, shall form another district: the Counties of Kanawha, Mason, Cabell, Logan and Nicholas, shall form another district: the Counties of Greenbrier, Monroe, Giles and Montgomery, shall form another district: the Counties of Tazewell, Wythe and Grayson shall form another district: the Counties of Washington, Russell, Scott and Lee shall form another district: the Counties of Berkeley, Morgan and Hampshire shall form another district: the Counties of Frederick and Jefferson shall form another district; the Counties of Shenandoah and Hardy shall form another district; the Counties of Rockingham and Pendleton shall form another district; the Counties of Augusta and Rockbridge shall form another district; the Counties of Alleghany, Bath, Pocahontas and Botetourt, shall form another district; the Counties of Loudoun and Fairfax shall form another district; the Counties of Fauquier and Prince William shall form another district; the Counties of Stafford, King George, Westmoreland, Richmond, Lancaster and Northumberland, shall form another district; the Counties of Culpeper, Madison and Orange, shall form another district; the Counties of Albemarle, Nelson and Amherst, shall form another district; the Counties of Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa and Hanover, shall form another district; the Counties of Spottsylvania, Caroline and Essex, shall form another district; the Counties of King and Queen, King William, Gloucester, Matthews and Middlesex, shall form another district; the Counties of Accomack, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York and Warwick, and the City of Williamsburg, shall form another district; the Counties of Charles City, James City, New Kent and Henrico, and the City of Richmond, shall form another district; the Counties of Bedford and Franklin shall form another district; the Counties of Buckingham, Campbell and Cumberland, shall form another district; the Counties of Patrick, Henry and Pittsylvania, shall form another district; the Counties of Halifax and Mecklenburg shall form another district; the Counties of Charlotte, Lunenburg, Nottoway and Prince Edward, shall form another district; the Counties of Amelia, Powhatan and Chesterfield, and the town of Petersburg, shall form another district; the Counties of Brunswick, Dinwiddie and Greenesville, shall form another district; the Counties of Isle of Wight, Prince George, Southampton, Surry and Sussex, shall form another district; and the counties of Norfolk, Nansemond and Princess Anne, and the borough of Norfolk, shall form another district.

Every white male citizen of the Commonwealth, resident therein, aged twenty one years and upwards, being qualified to exercise the right of suffrage according to the former Constitution and laws; and every such citizen, being possessed, or whose tenant for years, at will or at sufferance, is possessed, of an estate of freehold in land of the value of twenty-five dollars, and so assessed to be, if any assessment thereof be required by law; and every such citizen, being possessed, as tenant in common, joint tenant or parcener, of an interest in or share of land, and having an estate of freehold therein, such interest or share being of the value of twenty-five dollars, and so assessed to be, if any assessment thereof be required by law; and every such citizen being entitled to a reversion or vested remainder in fee, expectant on an estate for life or lives, in land of the value of fifty dollars, and so assessed to be, if any assessment thereof be required by law; (each and every such citizen, unless his title shall have come to him by descent, devise, marriage or marriage-settlement, having been so possessed or entitled for six months); and every such citizen, who shall own and be himself in actual occupation of a leasehold estate, with the evidence of title recorded two months before he shall offer to vote, of a term originally not less than five years, of the annual value or rent of twenty dollars; and every such citizen, who, for twelve months next preceding, has been a house-keeper and head of a family, within the County, city, town, borough or election district where he may offer to vote, and shall have been assessed with a part of the revenue of the Commonwealth within the preceding year, and actually paid the same - and no other persons - shall be qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly, in the county, city, town or borough, respectively, wherein such land shall lie, or such house-keeper and head of a family shall live. And in case of two or more tenants in common, joint tenants or parceners, in possession, reversion or remainder, having interest in land, the value whereof shall be insufficient to entitle them all to vote, they shall together have as many votes as the value of the land shall entitle them to; and the Legislature shall by law provide the mode in which their vote or votes shall in such case be given: Provided, nevertheless, that the right of suffrage shall not be exercised by any person of unsound mind, or who shall be a pauper, or a non-commissioned officer, soldier, seaman or marine, in the service of the United States, or by any person convicted of any infamous offence.