1112 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [Ch. 695]

be retained as if said ballot had been spoiled; and no voter
shall be allowed over seven minutes in which to vote.

SEC. 201. Immediately upon the closing of the polls the
judges of election shall proceed to count the ballots, and the
counting or canvass thereof shall not be adjourned or post-
poned until the count or canvass shall have been fully com-
pleted ; 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
saiS. ballots the 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
to reject any ballot7 and no ballots shall be wholly 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 designa-
tions for whom the same may be properly marked.

SEC. 202. The judges shall make duplicate statements or
returns of the result of the canvass of said votes, each of which
shall, if possible, be upon a single sheet of paper, and shall
contain a caption containing the day on which said election was
held and the hours thereof, and showing the whole number of
votes given for each candidate, designating the office for which
they were given. Such statements or returns shall be printed,
or partly printed or written, and in case a proposition of any
kind has been submitted to the voters at any such election, it
shall also show in like mariner the number of votes for and
against such proposition, and at the end of each such statement
or return shall be printed or written a certificate that the same
is correct in all respects; which certificate and each sheet of
paper forming a part of the statement shall be subscribed by
the judges and clerks of such election.

If any judge or clerk shall decline to sign such return, he
shall state his reasons therefor in writing, and a copy thereof,
signed by himself, shall be enclosed with each return; and each
return or statement shall be enclosed in an envelope which shall
then be securely sealed and each of the judges and clerks shall
then write his name across the fold of the envelope; one of
which envelopes shall be directed to the Mayor and the other to
the City Council of said town of Laurel; the "one addressed to
the Mayor shall be delivered to him, and the one addressed to
the City Council shall be delivered to the President of the City
Council at the time hereinafter mentioned.