THE QUALIFIED VOTERS OF THE STATE FOR
ADOPTION OR REJECTION.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
Maryland, (Three-fifths of all members elected to each of
the two Houses concurring), That the following Section be
and the same is hereby proposed as an amendment to Sec-
tion 21 of Article IV of the Constitution of Maryland,
title "Judiciary Department", sub-title "Part III—Circuit
Courts", the same, if adopted by the legal and qualified
voters of the State as herein provided, to become Section 21
of Article IV of the Constitution of Maryland.

21. From and after January 1, 1955, there shall be in the
third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh circuits at least one
judge for each county, who shall be a resident of the county
in which he shall hold office, and who shall be elected by the
voters thereof, to be styled judges of the circuit court, to be
elected or appointed as herein provided. The number of
judges for any of the circuits or for any of the counties, may
be increased or decreased by the General Assembly from
time to time, and any vacancy so created shall be filled as
provided in Section. 5 of this Article except that in the third,
fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh judicial circuits there shall
never be less than one judge for each county and in
all of the CIRCUITS there shall never be less than
FOUR for each circuit. The senior judge in length of
service shall be the Chief Judge of the Circuit; the other
judge or judges shall be associate judges. In the first and
second judicial circuits no two of said judges of the circuit
court shall at the time of their election or appointment, or
during the term for which they may have been elected or
appointed, reside in any one county. In the first and second
judicial circuits, in case any candidate or candidates for
judge at any election shall receive sufficient votes to cause
such candidate or candidates to be declared elected, but the
election of such candidate or candidates would cause more
judges than herein permitted to reside in any county of the
circuit, then and in that event there shall be declared elected
only that candidate or those candidates residing in said
county, in the order of the votes received, whose election
would provide the permitted number of judges from said
county and also the candidate or candidates residing in some
other county, and not similarly disqualified, who shall have
the next highest number of votes in said election. If, by rea-
son of such a condition or by reason of any equal vote for two
or more candidates a sufficient number of judges duly quali-
fied as to residence shall not be elected at any election, then
it shall be the duty of the Governor to order a new election