[Art. 15, Sec. 11] MARYLAND MANUAL 377

qualify out of the County in which he resides, an official copy
of his oath shall be filed and recorded in the Clerk's office of
the Circuit Court of the County in which he may reside, or
in the Clerk's office of the Superior Court of the City of Bal-
timore, if he shall reside therein. All words or phrases, used
in creating public offices and positions under the Constitu-
tion and laws of this State, which denote the masculine
gender shall be construed to include the feminine gender,
unless the contrary intention is specifically expressed.¹

SEC. 11. No person who is a member of an organization
that advocates the overthrow of the Government of the
United States or of the State of Maryland through force or
violence shall be eligible to hold any office, be it elective or
appointive, or any other position of profit or trust in the
Government of or in the administration of the business of
this State or of any county, municipality or other political
subdivision of this State.²

ARTICLE XVI.³

THE REFERENDUM.

SECTION 1. (a) The people reserve to themselves pow-
er known as The Referendum, by petition to have sub-
mitted to the registered voters of the State, to approve or
reject at the polls, any Act, or part of any Act of the Gen-
eral Assembly, if approved by the Governor, or, if passed
by the General Assembly over the veto of the Governor;

(b) The provisions of this Article shall be self-execut-
ing; provided that additional legislation in furtherance
thereof and not in conflict therewith may be enacted.

SEC. 2. No law enacted by the General Assembly shall
take effect until the first day of June next after the session
at which it may be passed, unless it contain a Section de-
claring such law an emergency law and necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public health or safety, and
passed upon a yea and nay vote supported by three-fifths
of all the members elected to each of the two Houses of
the General Assembly; provided, however, that said period
of suspension may be extended as provided in Section 3
(b) hereof. If before said first day of June there shall
have been filed with the Secretary of the State a petition

'Thus amended by Chapter 275, Acts of 1922, ratified November 7, 1922.
'Added by Chapter 721, Acts o( 1947, ratified November 2, 1948.
'Added by Chapter 673, Acts of 1914, ratified November 2, 1915.