1396 ARTICLE 33

Supervisors of Elections.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 1. 1912, sec. 1. 1904, sec. 1. 1896, ch. 202, sec. 1.

1. The governor biennially, by and with the advice and consent of the
senate if in session, and if not in session, then the governor alone, shall
appoint, in each and every county of the State and in the city of Baltimore,
three persons who shall constitute and be styled "The Board of Super-
visors of Election of the Respective Counties and of Said City." Said
supervisors shall be residents and voters in their respective counties or in
the city of Baltimore, as the case may be, and two of them shall always
be selected from the two leading political parties of the State, one from
each of said parties. They shall be men of high character and integrity
and of recognized business capacity. Before appointing such supervisors of
elections the governor shall request the State central committees, repre-
senting each of the two leading political parties of the State in each county
and in said city, as the case may be, to designate at least four eligible candi-
dates for the position of supervisor of elections in their respective counties
and in said city, and the governor shall appoint one of the persons so desig-
nated for any particular county or for said city, unless, in his judgment,
all of said persons shall be unfit or incompetent for said position, in which
case he shall file a written statement to that effect with the secretary of
state, setting forth such fact and the grounds therefor, and thereupon he
shall call upon the said committee for the city or county, as the case may be,
for another list of six names and from said list and the original list he shall
make the appointment.

The office of supervisor of elections is a civil office within meaning of art. 2, sec. 10,
of the Md. Constitution, but being of statutory creation, the legislature may abolish the
office or change mode of appointment. Appellant held to have been properly appointed
by Governor when the senate was not in session, in place of his nominee rejected by
senate. Mandamus. Demurrer. Riggin v. Lankford, 134 Md. 153.

Act of 1916, ch. 426, incorporating town of Bowie in Prince George's County held
not to violate provisions of art. 33, since the election provided for in said act was not
to be held under that article. This act did not repeal any part of art. 33 so as to affect
provisions thereof as applicable to elections not provided for by said act. Johnson v.
Luers, 129 Md. 534.

Act of 1896, ch. 202, repealed the prior law 'relative to elections and adopted an
entirely different system of registration. Turner v. Bryan, 83 Md. 373; Meloy v. Scott,
83 Md. 375. See also Munroe v. Wells, 83 Md. 508.

Cited but not construed in Sappington v. Slade, 91 Md. 644.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 2. 1912, sec. 1A. 1920 (special session), ch. 1, sec. 1A.

2. Wherever in this Article words or phrases are used denoting the
masculine gender they shall be taken to include the feminine gender.
See art. 1, sec. 7, and notes.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 3. 1912, sec. 2. 1904, sec. 2. 1896, ch. 202, sec. 2. 1902, ch. 296. 1927,

ch. 392. 1931, ch. 332. 1933, chs. 205, 279 and 417. 1937, ch. 121.

1939, chs. 57, 149 and 593.

3. Each supervisor of elections of Baltimore City shall receive an
annual salary of twenty-five hundred dollars and each supervisor of elec-
tions of Baltimore County shall receive an annual salary of one thousand
dollars, payable by the County Commissioners of Baltimore County, in
such installments as said County Commissioners shall elect and each super-
visor of elections of any of the other counties of this State unless otherwise
provided by law shall receive an annual salary of one hundred dollars,
which salary may, in counties having more than fifteen polling places, be
increased by the County Commissioners, in their discretion, to an amount