ARTICLE I.
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE.
Section 1. All elections shall be by ballot,
and every white male citizen of the United
States, of the age of twenty-one years or up-
wards, who shall have resided in the State
one year next preceding the election, and six
months in any county, or in any legislative
district of Baltimore city, and who shall com-
ply with the provisions or this article of the
constitution, shall be entitled to vote at all
elections hereafter held in this State; and in
case any county or city shall be so divided as
to form portions of different electoral districts
for the election of Congressmen, senator, dele-
gate, or other officer or officers, then to en-
title a person to vote for such officer he must
have been a resident of that part of the county
or city which shall form a part of the elec-
toral district in which he offers to vote for
six months next preceding the election; but
a person who shall have acquired a residence
in such county or city entitling him to vote
at any such election shall be entitled to vote
in the election district from which he removed,
until he shall have acquired a residence in
the part of the county or city to which be has
removed.
Sec. 2. The general assembly shall pro-
vide by law for a uniform registration of the
names of voters in this State, which registra-
tion shall be evidence of the qualification of
said voters to vote at any election thereafter
held, but no person shall be excluded from
voting at any election on account of not being
registered until the general assembly shall
have passed an act of registration, and the
same shall have been carried into effect, after
which no person shall vote unless his name
appears on the register. The general assem-
bly shall also provide by law for taking the
votes of soldiers in the army of the United
States serving in the field.
Sec. 3, No person above the age of twenty-
one years, convicted of larceny or other infa-
mous crime, unless pardoned by the gov-
ernor, shall ever thereafter be entitled to vote
at any election in this State, and no lunatic,
or person non compos mentis, shall be entitled
to vote.
Sec. 4. No person who has at any time
been in armed hostility to the United States,
or the lawful authorities thereof, or who
has been in any manner in the service of the
so-called " Confederate States of America,"
and no person who has voluntarily left this
State and gone within the military lines of
the so-called "Confederate States or armies"
with the purpose of adhering to said States
or armies, and no person who has given any |
aid, comfort, countenance or support to those
engaged in armed hostility to the United
i States, or in any manner adhered to the ene-
mies of the United States, either by contribu-
ting to the enemies of the United States, or
unlawfully sending within the lines of such
enemies money or goods, or letters, or infor-
mation, or who bag disloyally held communi-
cation with the enemies of the United States,
or who has advised any person to enter the
service of the said enemies, or aided any person
so to enter, or who has by any open deed or
word declared his adhesion to the cause of the
enemies of the United States, or his desire for
the triumph of said enemies over the arms of
the United States, shall ever be entitled to vote
at any election to be held in this State, or to
hold any office of honor, profit or trust un-
der the laws of this State, unless since such
unlawful acts he shall have voluntarily en-
tered into the military service of the United
States, and been honorably discharged there-
from, or shall be on the day of election, ac-
tually and voluntarily in such service, or
unless he shall be restored to his full rights
of citizenship by an act of the general assem-
bly passed by a vote of two-thirds of all the
members elected to each house; and it shall
be the duty of all officers of registration and
judges of election carefully to exclude from
voting), or being registered, all persons so as
above disqualified; and the judges of election
at the first election held under this constitution
shall, and at any subsequent election may,
administer to any person offering to vote the
following oath or affirmation: I do swear
or affirm that I am a citizen of the United
States, that I have never given any aid, coun-
tenance or support to those in armed hostility
to the United States, that I have never ex-
pressed a desire for the triumph of said ene-
mies over the arms of the United States, and
that I will bear true faith and allegiance to
the United States and support the constitu-
tion and laws thereof as the supreme law of
the land, any law or ordinance of any State
to the contrary notwithstanding; that I will
in all respects demean myself as a loyal citi-
zen of the United States, and I make this
oath or affirmation without any reservation
or evasion, and believe it to be binding on
me; and any person declining to take such
oath shall not be allowed to vote, but the
taking of such oath shall not be deemed con-
clusive evidence of the right of such person
to vote; and any person swearing or affirm-
ing falsely shall be liable to penalties of per-
jury, and it shall be the duty of the proper
officers of registration to allow no person to
be registered until he shall have taken the
oath or affirmation above set out, and it shall |
