196

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

box and tickets by the judges and clerks of election and the

ballot-box shall have been locked, which shall not be again

opened until the polls close; all qualified voters of said town

offering to vote and whose names appear upon said registration

books shall be furnished an official ballot with the initial of one

of the judges thereon, after having answered such questions

Right to vote.

relating to his identity and right to vote as the judges of elec-

tion may think proper, and repair to one of the booths or

compartments provided for voters and mark his ballot with

the pencil therein provided and as hereinbefore required, when

he shall fold his ticket, without displaying the marks thereon,

and return it to one of the judges of election, who shall de-

posit in the ballot-box ; provided, however, that any voter who

shall spoil a ballot so he cannot vote it may, on returning

said spoiled ballot to the judge holding the ballots, receive

another in its stead; and should he spoil the second ballot,

Spoiling a bal-
lot

he shall, upon returning the same to the officer aforesaid, be

entitled to receive a third ballot, which ballot or ballots shall

be immediately cancelled by endorsing thereon the word

"spoiled," which ballots shall be preserved and included in

the election returns. Every voter who does not vote the

ballot delivered to him shall, before leaving the polling place,

return such ballot to the judge from whom he received it, and

said return ballot shall be retained as if said ballot had been

spoiled ; and no voter shall be allowed over seven minutes in

which to vote.

1940. Immediately upon the closing of the polls the judges

Counting the
ballot.

of election shall proceed to count the ballots, and the counting

or canvass thereof shall not be adjourned or postponed until

the count or canvass shall have been fully completed, nor

until the returns have been announced publicly and the written

returns herein provided for fully completed and signed by

the judges and clerks of election. In counting the said ballots

the said judges of election shall be governed by the manifest

intent of the voter, where the same can be ascertained, and

a cross (X) mark protruding slightly beyond any square in

which the same should be made shall not be sufficient cause

Ballots not to

to reject any ballot. And no ballots shall be wholly rejected

be rejected.

if more candidates under any one head or designation for

office shall be voted for than there are offices to be filled,

but shall be counted for all other candidates under other heads

or designations for whom the same may be properly marked.

I94H. The judges shall make duplicate statements or re-

turns of the result of the canvass of said votes, each of which