county shall be divided and laid off into five separate districts; Allegany
county shall be divided and laid off into eight (i) separate districts; Anne-Arundel
county (k) excluding the city of Annapolis, shall be divided and laid off into five
separate districts; all that part of the second election district of Anne-Arundel county,
lying out of the city of Annapolis, shall constitute and compose the second election district
of the said county; and the polls for the second election district of Anne-Arundel
county shall be held at the house of Jacob Waters, near the blacksmith's shop, on
the main road leading from the city of Annapolis to the city of Washington (k); and
Baltimore county, out of the limits of the city of Baltimore, shall be divided and
laid off into seven districts; and the said citizens, when assembled, shall proceed
to elect, by ballot (l), four delegates for their respective counties, of the most
wise, sensible, and discreet of the people, residents in the county where they
are to be chosen one whole year next preceding the election, above twenty-one
years of age (m).

    3.  That all matters which relate to the judges, place, time and manner, of holding
elections for delegates of the several counties, shall hereafter be regulated by
law (n).


    4.  That every free white male citizen of this state, above twenty-one years if
age, and no other (n), having resided twelve months within this state, and six
months in the city of Annapolis, next preceding the election at which he offers to
vote (o), shall have a right of suffrage, and shall, on the first Monday of October
seventeen hundred and seventy-seven, and on the same day in every year
for ever thereafter, vote by ballot (p), in the election of the said city, and elect by a
majority of votes, two delegates to the general assembly of this state (q).  That

    (i)  Allegany county had been divided into six districts, which were altered to eight by 1816,
ch. 32, confirmed by 1817, ch. 14.
    (k)  An act was passed to alter and change such parts of the constitution as related to the division
of Anne-Arundel county into election districts, and to change the place of holding the elections
in the second district, 1816, ch. 252, confirmed by 1817, ch. 149.  These acts had the effect
of changing a part of the constitution established by the acts of 1798 and 1799, which provided
that Anne-Arundel county, including the city of Annapolis, should be laid off into five separate
districts.  The making a sixth district therein, to with the city of Annapolis, which was
left out of the second district, did not extend to elections for county delegates, the right of voting
for whom by the inhabitants of Annapolis, having a freehold of fifty acres of land in the county,
was taken away by the act of November 1809, ch. 38, confirmed by 1810, ch. 49, but only to
other elections therein mentioned.
    (l)  The original manner of electing viva voce, was altered by November 1809, ch. 83, confirmed
by 1810, ch. 33, to voting by ballot; a similar alteration having been before made by 1801,
ch. 90, confirmed by 1802, ch. 20.
    (m)  The persons to be chosen were required to have in the state, real or personal property
above the value of five hundred pounds current money, but by November 1809, ch. 198, confirmed
by 1810, ch. 18, all such parts of the constitution as required a property qualification in
persons elected members of the legislature, were abolished.  The subsequent part of the section,
respecting the final casting up of the polls is omitted, every part thereof which related to the
judges, place, time and manner, of holding elections for delegates, having been abrogated by
the act of 1798, ch. 115, confirmed by 1799, ch. 48, and left to be regulated by law.
    (n)  The original provisions by which the sheriffs were constituted the judges, and directed to
make returns after holding the elections four days, if necessary, were abrogated by the act of 
1798, ch. 115, confirmed by 1799, ch. 48, and the above having thereby become a part of the
constitution, is considered proper to be substituted in this section.  The elections have since been
regulated by 1799, ch. 50, and 1805, ch. 97, and the time fixed to the first Monday in October
in every year, as before.
    (o)  The former property qualification which in the city of Annapolis referred to the charter,
was abolished by November 1809, ch. 83, confirmed by 1810, ch. 33, and the term of residence
preceding the election was altered by the same acts, as stated in notes (a) and (b) to section 2.
    (p)  The manner of electing viva voce was altered by November 1809, ch. 83, confirmed by
1810, ch. 33, to voting by ballot.
    (q)  The two delegates were to be qualified agreeable to the charter of the city, which required
their having a freehold or visible estate of the value of twenty pounds sterling therein.  This property
qualification, together with that required for county delegates, was abolished by November
1809, ch. 198, confirmed by 1810, ch. 18.