410

STATE OF MARYLAND.

CHAP. 290.

Penalty for
violation.

offence in any primary election as herein provided for, shall
be deemed guilty of the same crime of which his offence is
made to consist by and under the general election law, and
particularly under any of the above mentioned sections thereof,
and shall be liable to the same punishment or penalty as is
prescribed for such offence by the general election law or by
any of said sections thereof ; provided, that none of the pro-
visions of this Act, relating to the holding and conduct of
primary elections, shall be applicable to primary elections for
the nomination of congressional candidates in congressional
districts which are now, or shall be composed partly of coun-
ties and partly of portions of Baltimore city ; and provided
further, that the primary election law in force in Baltimore
city prior to the passage of this Act shall continue in force,
and shall apply only to primary elections for congressional
candidates held in those portions of Baltimore city which form
a part of, and are embraced in, the Second and Fifth congres-
sional districts.

How election
for Mayor
and
City Council
shall be held.

153. Primary elections for Mayor and Members of the City
Council of Baltimore shall be held in all respects according to
the foregoing provisions, except that the day for holding the
same shall be the first Tuesday of April of the year in which
the municipal elections in said city of Baltimore are to be held.
And at every general registration held in Baltimore city and
in the several counties of this State subsequent to the passage
of this Act, there shall be provided in the registration books
an additional column, headed "Party Affiliation," and the
board of registers shall enter in this column the name of the
political party, if any, to which the voter is inclined and with
which the voter desires to have himself recorded as affiliated.
It shall be the duty of the board of registry to explain to each
Voter that the statement of such party affiliation does not bind
him to vote for the candidate of such party at any given elec-
tion ; also, that he has the right to decline to state any party
affiliation, but that no one who is not recorded upon the registry
as affiliated with a particular political party will be qualified
to vote at subsequent primary elections of said political party.
Whenever a voter declines to state his party affiliation, the
word "Declined" shall be written opposite his name under
such column, so that there shall be written in such column,

Party
affiliation
stated, etc.

opposite the name of every registered voter, either his party
affiliation or the word "Declined." And in all primary elec-
tions thereafter held, any person so registered as affiliated
with a given political party, shall have the right to receive
and vote the official ballot of that party and of no other.
And at any intermediate registration subsequent to the close