petition bearing the signatures of not less than 20% of the
registered voters of said City or any County (Provided,
however, that in any case 10,000 signatures shall be sufficient
to complete a petition), the Board of Election Supervisors of
said City or County shall provide at the next general or
congressional election, occurring after such demand or the
filing of such petition, for the election of a charter board of
eleven registered voters of said City or five registered voters
in any such Counties. Nominations for members for said
charter board may be made not less than forty days prior to
said election by the Mayor of Baltimore and City Council of
the City of Baltimore or the County Commissioners of such
County, or not less than twenty days prior to said election by
petition bearing the signatures written in their own hand-
writing (and not by their mark) of not less than 5% of the
registered voters of the said City of Baltimore or said County;
provided, that in any case two thousand signatures of regis-
tered voters shall be sufficient to complete any such nominat-
ing petition, and if not more than eleven registered voters of
the City of Baltimore or not more than five registered voters
in any such County are so nominated their names shall not
be printed on the ballot, but said eleven registered voters in
the City of Baltimore or five in such County shall constitute
said charter board from and after the date of said election. At
said election the ballot shall contain the names of said
nominees in alphabetical order without any indication of the
source of their nomination, and shall also be so arranged as
to permit the voter to vote for or against the creation of said
charter board, but the vote cast against said creation shall not
be held to bar the voter from expressing his choice among
the nominees for said board, and if the majority of the votes
cast for and against the creation of said charter board shall be
against said creation the election of the members of said
charter board shall be void; but if such majority shall be in
favor of the creation of said charter board, then and in that
event the eleven nominees of the City of Baltimore or five
nominees in the County receiving the largest number of votes
shall constitute the charter board, and said charter board, or
a majority thereof, shall prepare within twelve months from
the date of said election a charter or form of government for
said city or such county and present the same to the Mayor
of Baltimore or President of the Board of County Commis-
sioners of such county, who shall publish the same in at least
two newspapers of general circulation published in the City
of Baltimore or County within thirty days after it shall be
reported to him. Such charter shall be submitted to the voters
of said City or County at the next general or Congressional
election after the report of said charter to said Mayor of
Baltimore or President of the Board of County Commission-
ers; and if a majority of the votes cast for and against the
adoption of said charter shall be in favor of such adoption,
the said charter from and after the thirtieth day from the date
of such election shall become the law of said City or County,
subject only to the Constitution and Public General Laws of
this State, and any public local laws inconsistent with the
provisions of said charter and any former charter of the City
of Baltimore or County shall be thereby repealed.

SEC. 1A.¹⁸⁰ The procedure provided in this section
for adoption of a charter may be used in any county in lieu
of the procedures provided in Section 1 of this Article, and
a charter adopted pursuant to this section has the effect of
a charter adopted in accordance with the provisions of
Section 1. The board of county commissioners of any
county at any time may appoint a charter board. Said

charter board shall be registered voters and shall consist of
an uneven number of members, not fewer than five or more
than nine. The board of county commissioners shall ap-
point a charter board within thirty days after receiving a
petition signed by five percent of the registered voters of
the county or by ten thousand voters of the county, which-
ever is the lesser number. If additional charter board mem-
bers are nominated by petitions signed by three percent of
the registered voters of the county or by two thousand
registered voters, whichever is the lesser number, delivered
to the board of county commissioners within sixty days
after the charter board is appointed, the board of county
commissioners shall call a special election not less than
thirty or more than ninety days after receiving petitions,
unless a regular election falls within the designated period.
The appointees of the board of county commissioners and
those nominated by petitions shall be placed on the ballot
in alphabetical order without party designation. The voters
may cast votes for, and elect a number of nominees equal
to the number of charter board members originally selected
by the board of county commissioners, and those so elected
are the charter board. The charter board, within 18 months
from the date of its appointment, or if there was an election
for some of its members, within 18 months from the date
of the election, shall present a proposed charter for the
county to the board of county commissioners, which shall
publish it at least twice in one or more newspapers of
general circulation in the county within thirty days after it
is presented. The charter shall be submitted to the voters
of the county at a special or regular election held not earlier
than thirty days or later than ninety days after publication
of the charter. If a majority of the votes cast for and against
the adoption of the charter are in favor of its adoption, the
charter shall become effective as the charter of the county
on the thirtieth day after the election or such later date as
shall be specified in the charter.

SEC. 2.¹⁸¹ The General Assembly shall by public
general law provide a grant of express powers for such
County or Counties as may thereafter form a charter under
the provisions of this Article. Such express powers granted
to the Counties and the powers heretofore granted to the
City of Baltimore, as set forth in Article 4, Section 6, Public
Local Laws of Maryland, shall not be enlarged or extended
by any charter formed under the provisions of this Article,
but such powers may be extended, modified, amended or
repealed by the General Assembly.

SEC. 3.¹⁸² Every charter so formed shall provide for
an elective legislative body in which shall be vested the
lawmaking power of said City or County. Such legislative
body in the City of Baltimore shall be known as the City
Council of the City of Baltimore, and in any county shall
be known as the County Council of the County. The chief
executive officer, if any such charter shall provide for the
election of such executive officer, or the presiding officer of
said legislative body, if such charter shall not provide for
the election of a chief executive officer, shall be known in
the City of Baltimore as Mayor of Baltimore, and in any
County as the President or Chairman of the County Coun-
cil of the County, and all references in the Constitution and
laws of this State to the Mayor of Baltimore and City
Council of the City of Baltimore or to the County Com-
missioners of the Counties, shall be construed to refer to
the Mayor of Baltimore and City Council of the City of