FREDERICK COUNTY. 2537

1898, ch. 2, sec. 270WW. 1918 Code', sec. 399.

374. The judges of election, and each of them, shall have authority to
keep the peace, and to cause any person to be arrested for any breach of
the peace, or for any breach of the election laws, or any interference with
the progress of an election, or of the canvass of the ballots; and it shall be
the duty of all officers of the law present to obey the order of any judge
of election, and an officer making an arrest by the direction of any judge
shall be protected in so doing as fully as if a warrant had been issued to
him to make such arrest.

1898, ch. 2, sec. 270XX. 1918 Code, sec. 400.

375. The polling places shall be opened by the judges at eight o'clock
in the morning and shall be kept open until six o'clock in the afternoon of
the same day, at which time the polls shall be closed. If any judge or clerk
shall not be present at the expiration of fifteen minutes after the time
for opening the polls, the judge or judges present shall fill the place of
such absent judge or clerk by appointing in his stead a person of the
same political party as the absentee. One of the judges shall administer
to such substitute the oath required of the judge or clerk originally ap-
pointed. After the opening of the polls no judge or clerk shall absent
himself therefrom until all the ballots cast shall have been counted and
the returns completed. If, in case of absolute necessity, any judge or
clerk in attendance shall be compelled to absent himself, he shall appoint
some fit person of the same political party with himself, to act in his
stead until his return, having first administered to such substitute the
same oath as he himself has taken. Blank forms for the appointment of
substitute judges and clerks and of the oath aforesaid shall be supplied
by the supervisors, and the oath, when administered, shall be preserved
and returned by the judges to the supervisors. The appointment and
swearing in of all such substitutes, and the reason therefor, and the time
when such substitutes began and ceased to serve, shall be noted by the
judge in the poll book of the precinct; such substitute shall cease to act
whenever the judge or clerk in whose stead he was appointed shall be
present.

1898, ch. 2, sec. 270YY. 1918 Code, sec. 401.

376. Each political party or other body of voters having a candidate or
candidates duly nominated, shall have the right to designate and keep a
challenger and watcher at each place of registration and election, who
shall be assigned to such positions, near the judges of election, inside the
registration or polling room, as to enable them to see each person as he
offers to register or vote, and they shall be protected in the discharge of
their duty by the judges of election and the police. A certificate, signed
by the candidates, or by the presiding officer of the chief managing com-
mittee of their party in the city shall be sufficient evidence of the right
of such challenger and watcher to be present in the registration or polling
room. In case any challenger or watcher does not produce such certifi-
cate, the judges of election shall recognize a challenger or watcher vouched