ment, and the duties imposed upon them
thereby."
The committee recommend that the eighth
section of this article be also transferred to the
article on the legislative department. This
section is in the words following :
"The general assembly shall have power to
regulate by law, not inconsistent with this
constitution, all matters which relate to the
judges of election, time, place and manner of
holding elections in this State, and of making
returns thereof."
In the third section of this article strike
out the word "on" and insert the word
"at." In the second line of the same section
insert the word "an" before the word
"equal," and in the fourth line insert the
word "for" after the word "provided." In
the same line strike out the word "other-
wise " after the word "specially."
In the second line of the fifth section insert
the words "of law" after the word "courts,'
and in the third line the words ''in contro-
versy " after the word "amount."
The committee further report that they have
considered the section which was specially re-
ferred to them by the convention. That section
reads thus:
"Section —. There shall be an election
held in the several counties and in the city of
Baltimore on the Tuesday next after the first
Monday in the month of November, in every
second year. The first election to be held in
the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, at
which election all clerks of courts and regis-
ters of wills, judges of the orphans' courts,
sheriffs, county commissioners and all other
county officers elected by the people, shall be
chosen whenever an election for any such of-
ficer is required to be held, but this shall not
apply to the municipal officers of any incor-
porated town or city."
The committee recommend the adoption of
this section in the following modified form,
Section 7. General elections shall be held
throughout the State, on the Tuesday next after
the first Monday in the month of November of
each and every year. At the election held in
the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, all
State officers required to be elected under this
constitution during that year shall be elected,
and in like manner in every second year there-
after an election shall be held for those State
officers whose terms are about to expire. At
the election held in the year eighteen hundred
and sixty-five, all county officers required to be
elected under this constitution, in that year
shall be elected, and in like manner, in every
second year thereafter, an election shall be
held for those county officers whose terms are
about to expire; provided, however, the judges
of the several courts of this State (except the
judges of the orphans' courts,) shall be elect
ed at the regular election, whether for State
or county officers as the case may be, imme-
diately preceding the expiration of the term |
of the incumbent whose place is to be
filled.
Mr. DENT. I would inquire how that sec-
tion affects the provisions of section six,
which has been adopted. That section
reads:
" All officers, civil and military, now hold-
ing office, whether by election, or appoint-
ment, under the State, shall continue to hold
and exercise their offices according to their
present tenure, unless otherwise provided in
this constitution, &c."
It was supposed that under that provision
the clerks of the several courts throughout
the State would continue in office, until the
terms for which they had been elected would
expire. It occurs to me that the section just
read might affect this section, and create a
necessity for the election of clerks before the
period contemplated by this ninth section.
Mr. PUGH. I would suggest that the words
in the proposed section—' 'whose terms are
about to expire"—meets that ground.
Mr. STIRLING. It strikes me that it would
be better, instead of saying "county officers,"
to name the officers intended to be embraced
by that term, I do not know what effect it
may have in the city of Baltimore, where we
make a distinction between county and city
officers.
Mr. HEBB. It is stated in the body of the
constitution itself in what years &\\ officers
shall be elected. All that this section does,
is to say that there shall be a new election in
the year when their terms expire.
Mr. STIRLING. I am not speaking in re-
gard to the expiration of the terms of office,
but in regard to what is meant by " county
officers." There are certain officers elected in
the city of Baltimore, by general ticket, who
are municipal officers; yet they occupy the
same ground as county officers. The original
resolution I offered, and which was referred
to the committee on revision, contained a pro-
viso which I will move to have inserted here,
as follows:
" Provided that this shall not be taken to
include the municipal officers of any incorpo-
rated town or city,"
1 do that for fear the words " county offi-
cers" might lead to some misconstruction.
Mr. HEBB. The section proposed by the
committee on revision speaks of those county
officers required to be elected under this con-
stitution. I am not aware that this constitu-
tion provides for the election of any munici-
pal officers of any incorporated town or city.
Mr. STIRLING. Very well; my amendment
may not be necessary, and I will withdraw it.
The section, as proposed by the committee
on revision, was then adopted.
VOTE ON THE CONSTITUTION.
Mr. EARLE. The next amendment proposed
by the committee, is to the first section of that
part of the schedule which relates to the ' ' vote |
