870                             LAWS OF MARYLAND                      [CH. 392

(h) The procedure for casting ballots shall be as follows:

(1)    At every election each qualified voter shall be entitled to
receive one official ballot. In applying therefor to the judge holding
the ballots, he shall give his name and residence, and the said judge
shall repeat the same in a loud and distinct voice. If such name is
found upon the registry by the judges having custody thereof, they
shall repeat the said name, and the voter shall be allowed to enter
the space enclosed by the booth or compartment. The judge holding
the ballots, having first written in ink the voter's name and voting
authority card number upon the coupon attached to one of them,
shall deliver said ballot to the voter after having likewise written in
ink his own name or initials upon the back thereof; and one judge
shall at the same time record the voter's act of voting in the registry.

(2)    Upon receipt of his ballot the voter shall forthwith retire
alone to one of the booths or compartments and prepare his ballot.
He shall mark with an indelible pencil after the name of every person
or persons for whom he intends to vote, and to the right thereof, in
the blank space provided therefor, a cross (x) mark and in the case
of a question submitted to a vote of the people, he shall likewise mark
in the appropriate space after the question a cross (x) mark. Not
more than one voter shall be permitted to occupy any one booth or
compartment at any time. No voter shall remain in or occupy a
booth longer than may be necessary to prepare his ballot, and in no
event longer than three minutes in case all such booths or compart-
ments are in use and other voters are waiting to occupy the same,
except that an additional two minutes shall be allowed if there are
constitutional amendments or referenda to be voted upon.

(3)    Before leaving the voting booth or compartment the voter
shall fold his ballot without displaying the marks thereon, and in the
same way it was folded when received by him. He shall keep the
same so folded until he has cast his ballot, so that the signature or
initials of the judge from whom he received it, and the name and
number written on the coupon thereof, but nothing else thereon,
may be seen. He shall forthwith hand his ballot to the judge at the
ballot boxes, and the judge shall deposit his ballot in one of the boxes,
having first detached therefrom its coupon, which he shall then
string upon a cord or wire to be provided for the purpose. The said
voter shall forthwith leave the enclosed space.

(4)    No ballot without the indorsement of the name or initials
of the judge thereon, as hereinbefore provided, shall be deposited in
said ballot boxes. If any such ballot is deposited it shall be counted
for the purpose of ascertaining the number of people voting and for
no other purpose, and the judges shall in ink mark on the back
thereof the word "Counted" and endorse their names.

(i) Any voter who, by accident or mistake, shall spoil his ballot
so that he cannot conveniently vote the same, may on returning said
spoiled ballot to the judge holding the ballots, receive another in
place of it, with his name and the same number written on the
coupon thereof, as on the ballot so returned. No voter shall receive
more than three ballots from said judge for the reason aforesaid.
The ballots thus returned shall be immediately cancelled by endors-
ing thereon the word "Spoiled", and the precinct, election district
or ward, as the case may be, and the judge's initials. The spoiled
ballots, together with those not distributed to the voters, shall be