EDWIN WARFIELD, ESQ., GOVERNOR.
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1227
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choosing delegates to said National Convention, and for nomi-
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nating Presidential Electors; and provided, further, that the
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Proviso.
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primary election law in force in Baltimore City prior to the pas-
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sage of this Act, shall continue in force, and shall apply only
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to primary elections for Congressional candidates held in those
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portions of Baltimore City which form a part of, and are em-
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braced in the Second and Fifth Congressional Districts.
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153. Primary elections for Mayor, Comptroller, President
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of the Second Branch City Council and members of the City
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Primaries held
in Baltimore
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Council of Baltimore, shall be held in all respects according
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city.
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to the foregoing provisions, and at every general registration
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held in Baltimore City and in the several counties of this
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State subsequent to the passage of this Act, there shall be pro-
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vided in the registration books an additional column headed
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"Party Affiliations," and the board of registry shall enter in
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this column the name of the political party, if any to which the
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voter is inclined and with which the voter desires to have him-
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self recorded as affiliated. It shall be the duty of the board
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of registry to explain to each voter that the statement of such
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party affiliation does not bind him to vote for the candidate
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of such party at any given election ; that he has a right to de-
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Declined to
state party
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cline to state any party affiliation, but that no one who is not
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affiliation.
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recorded upon the registry as affiliated with a particular po-
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litical party, will be qualified to vote at subsequent primary
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elections of said political party. Whenever a voter declines to
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state his party affiliation the word "Declined" shall be written
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opposite his name and under such column, so that there shall
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be written in such column, opposite the name of every register-
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ed voter either his party affiliation or the word "Declined,"
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and in all primary elections thereafter held, any person so reg-
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istered as affiliated with a given political party shall have the
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right to receive and vote the official ballot of that party, and
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of no other. And at any intermediate registration subsequent
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to the close of the next general registration, such voter may
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appear before the board of registry, and, upon his identity be-
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ing established to the satisfaction of the majority of the board
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of registry, he shall have a right to require the said board of
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Right of voter.
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registry to make, alter or strike out any entry in the column
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headed "Party Affiliation," opposite his name, in the registry.
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It shall be the duty of the board of registry to enter in the
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column headed "Remarks" the fact that such entry was made,
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altered or stricken out, and the date thereof.
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Sec. 12. And be it enacted, That this Act shall take effect
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from the date of its passage.
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Approved April 8, 1904.
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