AN ACT to repeal Article XXXIII, entitled Elections," of the Code of Public General Laws of Maryland, and the several Acts and parts of Acts amendatory thereto, and to re-enact the said Article XXXIII with amendments.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That Article XXXIII, entitled Elections, of the Code of Public General Laws of Maryland, and the several Acts and parts of Acts amendatory thereto, be, and the same are hereby, repealed, and the said Article XXXIII is hereby re-enacted with amendments so as to read as follows:

ARTICLE XXXIII.

ELECTIONS.

SUPERVISORS OF ELECTIONS.

1. At the election to be held on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday of November in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-six and in every alternate year thereafter, each qualified voter of the State shall be entitled to vote for not more than two Supervisors of Elections of the county or city wherein such voter may reside. Candidates for the office of Supervisor of Elections shall be nominated and their names placed upon the official ballots in the same manner and under the same conditions, and returns shall be made and submitted to the Governor of the number of votes received by each candidate in the same form and by the same officer as in the case of candidates for other offices,

but no ballot cast at such elections for more than two Supervisors shall be counted for any of them. Upon receiving said returns the Governor shall commission the three persons receiving the greatest number of votes, and eligible as hereinafter provided, as Supervisors of Elections of said county or city as the case may be. If any of the candidates shall have an equal number of votes, so that it cannot be decided which of them have been elected, the Chief Judge of the Orphans' Court for the county or city where said candidates shall be voted for shall determine by lot in their presence which of the persons having such equal number of votes shall be Supervisors, so as to complete the number to which said county or city shall be entitled, and shall certify the same under oath and attested by his hand and by the seal of his said court to the Governor. No person shall be eligible as Supervisor of Elections of any county or city who is not a legal voter of the said county or city, or who holds any other public office, position or employment at the time of his election or appointment; nor shall any person who shall have been so elected or shall have been appointed as hereinafter provided, and who shall qualify as a Supervisor of Elections, hold any other public office during the term for which he shall have been so elected or appointed, nor shall he be eligible for election or appointment to any other public office or employment under the laws of this State or of any county or city thereof during the said term or for the period of ten months after the expiration of said term.

2. Each Supervisor of Elections of Baltimore city shall receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars, and each Supervisor of Elections of any of the counties of this State shall receive an annual salary of seventy-five dollars, which salary may in counties having more than fifteen polling places be increased by the County Commissioners in their discretion to an amount not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars. These salaries and all other expenses incurred by them under this article shall, upon their requisition, be audited by the County Commissioners of their

respective counties, or by the Comptroller of Baltimore city, as the case may be, who shall pay the same by warrant, drawn upon the proper officers of their county or of said city.

3. Before entering upon the duties of their office said Supervisors of Election shall each take and subscribe the oath prescribed in the sixth section of the first article of the Constitution, and also an oath to perform faithfully and honestly the duties imposed upon them by law. These oaths shall be taken before, and duly recorded by, the Clerk of the Circuit Court for the county, or of the Superior Court of Baltimore City, as the case may be, who shall be entitled to a fee of twenty-five cents for each oath, to be paid by the Supervisor. Within twenty days after their appointment the Supervisors of Elections for each county and for the City of Baltimore, respectively, shall organize as a Board by electing one of their number as president; and they shall hold office for two years and until their successors are chosen and qualified unless sooner removed, for good cause shown, by the Governor, who shall have power to so remove them at any time upon written charges after notice and hearing.

4. In case of any vacancy in their number the Governor shall appoint some eligible person to fill the same during the remainder of the term of office of the person originally chosen, but if the latter was so chosen as the nominee of a political party, then only a person belonging to the same political party shall be eligible as his successor, and it shall be the duty of the Governor before appointing such successor to request the permanent body of highest authority representing the said party in the county or city, as the case may be, to designate a candidate or candidates for said position; and if the Governor shall see fit not to appoint the person or any one of the persons so designated, he shall file with the Secretary of State a written statement of his reasons for not doing so.

5. Each Board of Supervisors shall have an office, and shall provide all necessary ballot-boxes and ballots and all registry books, poll-books, tally sheets, blanks and stationery

of every description, with printed headings and certificates necessary and proper for the registry of voters and conduct of elections, and for every incidental purpose connected therewith; and the expenses thereof shall be paid by the county or by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, as the case may be, as above provided.

6. The Board of Supervisors of Elections of the several counties may have clerks, with the consent of the County Commissioners for their respective counties, at such compensation as the said County Commissioners may fix. The Supervisors of Elections of the city of Baltimore shall have a clerk at a salary of twelve hundred dollars, and a messenger at a salary of eight hundred dollars per annum. The said clerks, and in the city of Baltimore the said messenger, shall be appointed by the respective Boards of Supervisors and shall be removable by them in their discretion. In Baltimore city the clerk and messenger, with the approval of the Supervisors, shall from time to time secure such temporary assistants as may be necessary for the proper transaction of the business of the office, but the compensation of such assistants, to be paid by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore upon requisition by the said Supervisors, shall not exceed the sum of one thousand dollars in any one year.

JUDGES AND CLERKS OF ELECTION.

7. In each year the Board of Supervisors shall select before the first day of July four judges of election, and before the fifteenth day of September two clerks for each election precinct in the city of Baltimore, and for each election district in their county, or, where a district is divided into voting precincts, for each voting precinct in such district, taking two of said judges and one clerk from each of the two leading political parties of the State. Each judge and each clerk must be a legal voter residing in the precinct or district, as the case may be, for which he is selected, a man of good capacity and character, able to

speak, read and write the English language, and skilled in the four fundamental rules of arithmetic, not holding any other public office or employment, and not a candidate for any office at the next election; provided, that in the city of Baltimore whenever all three Supervisors shall file in their office a sworn statement in writing that suitable persons cannot in their judgment be secured in any particular precinct for some of the offices to be filled, such offices may be in such case filled by persons otherwise qualified residing in another precinct of the same ward.

8. Each Supervisor shall have a veto upon the proposed selection or nomination of any judge or clerk; and if in any case, in consequence of such veto, the Board of Supervisors cannot agree upon an appointment, then the Supervisor or Supervisors belonging to the political party entitled to be represented by the judge or clerk in question shall name three men who are eligible, and from these the other Supervisor or Supervisors shall select such judge or clerk.

9. Each person selected as judge or clerk by the Board of Supervisors shall be promptly notified of the fact of his selection, with direction to appear, within the time fixed in the notice, before the Board, for the purpose of examination, and if upon examination he is found qualified, he shall, unless excused by the Supervisors for good cause, be appointed by the Supervisors, and shall be bound to serve as such officer for the term of one year. The Supervisors shall keep books, in which shall be written down the names of all the judges and clerks so appointed, the date and manner of notice to them to appear, and whether or not they appeared, and, if appearing, whether they were appointed, rejected or excused, and if rejected or excused, the reasons therefor. No person shall be compelled to serve as judge or clerk for one year after the expiration of his term of service, and all persons so serving shall be exempt from jury duty during the term of their service and for one year thereafter. Any person so selected and notified to appear for examination who shall not appear before the Board as required, or shall refuse to serve, shall be fined