I have the following HTML element:
Not answering the question, but you can also select by index, where i is the index of the item you wish to select:
var formObj = document.getElementById('myForm');
formObj.leaveCode[i].selected = true;
You can also loop through the items to select by display value with a loop:
for (var i = 0, len < formObj.leaveCode.length; i < len; i++)
if (formObj.leaveCode[i].value == 'xxx') formObj.leaveCode[i].selected = true;