The Choosing of State Officials in Representative Democratic Mode:Lieutenant Governor-By Harsha Sankar(October 2020)

The Lieutenant Governor must be chosen by electors. In Virginia there are 95 counties and 38 independent cities. All 133 localities are each assigned one electoral vote, allocated to its elector,
based on population.

Each elector can achieve ballot access by party nomination or by seeking it independently. Electors have to stand election. The electorate casts public ballots and the single transferable vote(ranked choice voting) is used. The candidate who wins the direct popular vote becomes the elector. The elector, who cannot be a participant in any branch of government for at least one year prior to the election, casts his or her vote for governor. The elector should also neither belong to any organization that is not publicly announced nor should its contents of its meetings be sealed in secrecy for at least two years prior to the election. Finally, the elector should not belong to any group comprised solely of any government branch participants.

A lieutenant gubernatorial candidate can achieve ballot access by party nomination or by seeking it independently. A candidate for Attorney General should not be a participant in any branch of government for at least one year prior to the election. That candidate should also neither belong to any organization that is not publicly announced nor should its contents of its meetings be sealed in secrecy for at least two years prior to the election. Finally, that candidate should not belong to any group comprised solely of any government branch participants.

The lieutenant gubernatorial candidate who receives the majority of the electoral votes becomes governor-elect. If no candidate receives a majority, the Top Three candidates are picked by electors who then cast their ballots ,with a specific number of electoral votes based on its population attached to it, on behalf of their locality. The lieutenant gubernatorial candidate who receives the majority of these new electoral votes becomes governor-elect.

If a candidate for governor still fails to achieve the majority, then the upper house of the state legislature chooses the next lieutenant governor from the final Top Two candidates.The lieutenant governor in each state must serve as President of the State Senate when it is in session. The lieutenant governor must serve as an assistant to the Governor in any of the governor's specific defined duties as per the discretion of the Governor when the state senate is not in session. The lieutenant governor must be prohibited from serving in any bureaucratic capacity as he or she should confine his or her duties to the preceding activities only.