940 ELECTIONS. [ART. 33

in case any voter putting his ballot in the envelope shall mutilate the
envelope, he may return the same and receive a new envelope in lieu
thereof under the same conditions and penalties as provided in this
article for new ballots at general elections; and in case a lawful ballot
contained in a proper envelope shall be mutilated by any of the judges
of elections in opening the envelope, the ballot shall not be thrown out
for that reason; and if an envelope shall be deposited in the ballot box
inadvertently, without being properly sealed and without being detected
by the judge receiving the same, or shall become unsealed in the ballot
box, a lawful ballot contained therein shall not be thrown out for that
reason; and if the voter shall hand a ballot in an unsealed envelope to
the judge for depositing the same in the ballot box, and the judge
detects that the same is unsealed, the envelope, with the ballot therein,
shall be returned to the voter, who shall be directed to return to the
privacy of a booth and there seal the envelope before again tendering
it to the judge to be placed in the ballot box. If more names are
marked for any office than there are persons to be voted for, such bal-
lots shall not be counted for such candidate or delegates, or other persons
to be voted for, as the case may be; but the whole ballot shall not for
that reason be rejected for candidates for other offices or positions, if
any, and a ballot marked by any other than a black pencil shall not be
counted. No vote shall be counted in any such county for any person,
after whose name a cross-mark made with a black pencil does not appear

on the ballot when voted.
See sec. 73 and notes.

1910, ch. 741, sec. 1601 (p. 122).

186. Nominations for mayor, comptroller, president of the second
branch city council and members of the city of Baltimore shall be made
by direct vote of the respective political parties at primary elections to
be held in all respects according to the aforegoing provisions, applicable
to primary elections in Baltimore city, except that the day for holding
the same shall be the first Tuesday of April of the year in which the
municipal elections in said city of Baltimore are to be held on a differ-
ent day from the general election. At every general registration held
in Baltimore city, and in each and every county of the State, subse-
quent to April 11, 1910, there shall be provided in the registration
books a distinct column headed "party affiliations," and the board of
registers shall enter in this column the name of the political party, if
any, to which the voter is inclined and with which the voter desires
to have himself recorded as affiliated. It shall be the duty of the board
of registry to explain to each voter that the statement of such party
affiliation does not bind him to vote for the candidate of such party of
any given election; also that he has the right to decline to state any
party affiliations; but that no one who is not recorded upon the registry

as affiliated with a particular political party will be qualified to vote
at subsequent primary elections of said political party. Whenever a
voter declines to state his party affiliation, the word "declined" shall be