FREDERICK COUNTY. 2541

to read to him the contents of the ballot so that the voter can ascertain
the position of the names of the candidates on each ballot. The clerk so
requested shall read said ballot to such voter in the presence of the other
clerk, whereupon the voter shall retire to one of the booths or compart-
ments and prepare his ballot, in the manner hereinbefore provided; or
such voter may request one of said clerks, in the presence of the other, to
mark the names of the candidates for whom he shall desire to vote, or
mark a group, should said voter desire to vote for an entire group. Affi-
davits of such voters shall contain a statement of the name and registered
address of the voter, and of the special reason why he is unable to mark
his ballots, and how long such disability has existed; and blanks for such
affidavits shall be furnished by the Supervisors of Elections in sufficient
numbers for each polling place, and all such affidavits shall be returned
with the poll books.

1898, ch. 2, sec. 270EEE. 1918 Code, sec. 407.

382. Any voter who shall, by accident or mistake, spoil his ballot so
that he cannot conveniently vote the same, may on returning said spoiled
ballot to the judge holding the ballots, receive another in place of it, with
his name and the same number written on the coupon thereof, as on the
ballot so returned, but no voter shall receive more than, three ballots from
said judge for the reason aforesaid. The ballots thus returned shall be
immediately cancelled by endorsing thereon the word "spoiled," and, to-
gether with those not distributed to the voters, shall be preserved and re-
turned to the Supervisors of Elections, as hereinafter provided. Every
voter who does not vote any ballot delivered to him, shall, before leaving
the polling place, return such ballot to the judge, from whom he received
it, and said returned ballot shall be retained as if said ballot had been
spoiled. When any one claiming to be a person whose name appears upon
the registers, shall make application for a ballot, his right to vote at that
election may be challenged, but shall not be determined until after ho has
marked his ballot and delivered it to the judge at the ballot box. The
person challenging shall assign his reason therefor, and one of the judges
shall thereupon administer to the person offering to vote an oath to make
true answers to questions, and if he shall take said oath, he shall be ques-
tioned by the judge or judges touching said cause of challenge, and he
may also be questioned by the person challenging him in regard thereto,
and if a majority of the judges are of opinion that he is the person so
registered, his vote shall be received accordingly. No one who is not
registered as a qualified voter of the precinct shall be entitled to vote or
to receive a ballot, but no vote shall be rejected because of an error in
the spelling of the voter's name or because of the wrongful omission or
addition of one or more initials of his middle name or names, or because
the voter gives initials, one or more, of his Christian or given name in-
stead of his full name, or one or more of his Christian or given name or
names, instead of the initial or initials thereof, or because of an error in
the number of his residence on the register, provided a majority of the