624

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

which polled the largest number of votes at the last preceding

Compensa-

general election; the compensation of the ballot clerks shall be

tion.

the same as that of judges of election; before proceeding to act

they shall take and subscribe an oath (or affirmation), if they be

conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath in the form follow-

ing : I will not attempt to ascertain, save in cases and in the man-

ner in which I am authorized by law to do, for what candidate

Oath.

or candidates any person shall vote or have voted, or how any

person shall vote or has voted on any question which may be or

may have been submitted to the vote of the people, and if such

knowledge shall be acquired by me in the performance of my

duty, I will not directly or indirectly, by word or act divulge or

reveal the same, or aid in doing so, save when I may be required

to do so by law in some legal proceeding, and I will in all things

faithfully execute the duties of my office of ballot clerk accord-

ing to the best of my knowledge, without favor or partiality, so

help me God. The proceedings of the board of supervisors of

election in the city of Baltimore, with reference to the advertise-

ment of names of the appointees for said ballot clerks, and of the

hearing and disposal of complaints in regard to them, and the

filling of vacancies in the office shall be the same as now provided

by law in reference to the judges of election; the obligation to

serve as such clerks, and the penalty for refusal to serve shall be

the same as now provided by law in regard to judges of election

in like case, as well in the several counties as in the city of Balti-

more respectively, and any person having served as ballot clerk

shall not be obliged to serve again for three years thereafter;

warrants shall be issued to said ballot clerks in the same manner

and by the same persons as to the judges of election; the two

ballot clerks appointed above for each district or precinct polling-

place, shall on the morning of the election and after the ballots

Take

have been opened by the return judge, receive the same from the

charge of
ballots.

judges of election and have charge thereof, and shall furnish

them to the voters in the manner hereinafter set forth; if any

ballot clerk shall fail to appear at the opening of the polls, or be,

or become unable to serve, the vacancy shall be filled in the same

manner as now provided by law for a like vacancy in the office of

judge of election or clerk.

153. The said board of supervisors of election respectively, shall
cause each polling-place to be suitably provided with a sufficient

Shall pro-
vide vot-

number of voting shelves or compartments, at or in which voters

ing shelves

may conveniently mark their ballots, so that in marking thereof

they may be in sight but be screened from the observation of

others, and a guard-rail shall be so constructed and placed that

only such persons as are inside said rail can approach within six

feet of the ballot-boxes, and of such voting shelves or compart-

ments; the arrangements shall be such that neither the ballot-

boxes nor the voting shelves or compartments shall be hidden