ELIHU E. JACKSON, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

627

other sections relative to the duties of the ballot clerks, voters and

others in and about the polling-rooms.

156. No person shall take or remove any ballot from the poll-

ing-place before the close of the polls; if any voter spoils a ballot

he may successively obtain others, one at a time, not exceeding

three in all, upon returning each spoiled one; the ballots thus

returned shall be immediately canceled, and together with those

not distributed to the voters, shall be preserved, and said undis-

tributed ballots and those thus cancelled shall be securely en-

Cancelled

veloped or wrapped, marked and sealed, and shall be delivered

ballots

by the return judges respectively, in the city of Baltimore, and

in the counties to the said respective boards of supervisors of

elections, within two days after the election, and they shall then

be destroyed; it shall be the duty of the ballot clerks to keep an

accurate account of all ballots delivered by them to voters, and

they shall account for and deliver to the return judge all the

ballots not delivered to voters.

157. Any voter who is blind, or who declares to the ballot

clerks that he caubot read, or that by reason of physical disa-

bility he is unable to mark his ballot, may apply to said two

Voters
blind

ballot clerks to assist him in the marking thereof; each voter of

foreign birth, excepting those who speak English as their native

tongue, shall be allowed to select and bring with him, if he

chooses, to the rail, but not inside of it, one person versed in the

English language, to assist said voter in properly stating and
spelling his name in English, and in establishing his residence

Of foreign
birth.

and to aid him in understanding correctly any question that may

be asked him, such person to be permitted to remain in the poll-

ing-room outside the rail until said voter of foreign birth has

deposited his ballot.

158. If the voter marks more names than there are persons to

be elected to an office, or if for any reason it is impossible to

determine the voter's choice for any office to be filled, his ballot

shall not be counted for such office; no ballot without the official

Ballots not

endorsement and the initials of one of the ballot clerks shall be

to be count
ed.

allowed to be deposited in the ballot-box, or counted except in

the instances mentioned in section one hundred and fifty of this

article; ballots not counted shall be marked "defective" on the

back thereof, and shall be preserved and disposed of in the same

manner as the rejected ballots.

159. It shall be the duty of the board of police commissioners

in the city of Baltimore, before the commencement of the next

registration of voters therein, to establish precincts for voting

Voting
precincts

therein, conforming to the legislative and congressional districts

as established by law, so that each precinct shall, as near as may

be contain not more than six hundred voters, and from time to

time to make such of one or more precincts, or other changes in