158

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

Key of ballot
box — who de-
livered to.

the ballot-box and the key thereof in the city of
; Baltimore shall be returned and delivered to the
board of police commissioners of Baltimore, and
in the counties to the clerk of the circuit court
of the county, who shall safely keep the same
for the space of six months from the day of such
delivery, at which time said ballot-box shall be
opened by said board of police commissioners or
clerks, as the case may be, in the presence of
one or more judges of the orphans' court, and in
said presence said ballots shall be destroyed ;
and the said police commissioners of the city of
Baltimore shall record among the minutes of
their office and the clerks of the counties among
the land records of their office a certificate of
said fact, signed by said judge or judges.
41. The ballot-box, after it has been locked
and sealed at the close of an election, and the

Ballot-box-
how opened.

count of the ballots, shall not again be opened
until after the expiration of six months from its-
delivery to the board of police commissioners of
Baltimore city, or to the clerks of the courts
aforesaid, except in case of a judicial investiga-
tion or a contested election as hereinafter pro-
vided, and then only on an order to the officer
or officers having charge thereof from some one
of the courts of Baltimore city, or from the cir-
cuit court of the counties, or some one of the
judges thereof, as the case may require, and
then only on such terms and conditions, and
subject to such restrictions as the said courts or
judges shall in said order prescribe and deter-
mine.
65. The board of police commissioners in the
city of Baltimore, and the clerks of the circuit
courts in the counties, to whom ballots have

Ballots— how
produced.

been returned under the provisions of this arti-
cle, shall produce any of such ballots in regard
to which testimony may be proposed to be
taken be.fore a justice of the peace taking
examinations in a contested election, and shall
furnish said justice copies of the same only on
an order first had and obtained from some one
of the courts of Baltimore city or of the circuit
courts of the counties, or some one of the judges
thereof, and then in pursuance of the terms and
conditions of said order, and subject to its re-