658 LAWS OF MARYLAND.

SEC. 7. And be it enacted, The judges of the election shall
appoint some competent person to act as clerk of the election,
and the polls shall be kept open from three o'clock P. M. until
nine o'clock P. M. of said day. The judges shall, after the
closing of the polls, carefully count the ballots cast, and within
two days after said election make a true and correct return of
the same under their hands to the Town Council, and shall
issue certificates of election of the person appearing from said
returns to have received .the highest number of votes for Mayor,
and the seven persons receiving the highest number of votes
for Councilmen, and the said certificates shall be recorded
among the records of the proceedings of the Town Council.
And the pe'rsons who shall respectively receive the highest
number of votes shall be Mayor and Councilmen for the said
town for the ensuing year, or until their successors are duly
elected and qualified.

SEC. 8. And be it enacted, In case a vote be challenged, the
judges of the election shall forthwith hear and pass upon the
qualifications of such person as an elector under this Act. An
appeal shall be from the decision of the judges to the Town
Council, which shall, for the purposes of considering such ap-
peals, be in session on election day from six o'clock P. M. until
the closing of the polls.

SEC. 9. And be it enacted, In case of a tie among those re-
ceiving the votes of the electors, which shall preclude a de-
cision that any one has received the highest number of votes
for Mayor, or that any seven have received the highest number,
of votes for Councilmen, and in that event the Town Council
shall designate one of said persons so tied to be Mayor or
Councilmen, as the case may be, and shall issue a certificate
of election accordingly.

SEC. 10. And be it enacted, If any person elected as Mayor
or Councilman shall refuse to serve as such, or his place shall
become vacant by death, resignation, disqualification or other-
wise, then the other members of the Council shall fill the va-
cancy as early thereafter as possible by appointment from
among the qualified electors of the town; provided, that if such
vacancy occurs by reason of failure to qualify, as set out in
Section 12, within two weeks after notice of his election, or
otherwise within one month from the date of election; then
and in that case the person who received the next highest num-
ber of votes for such office at such election shall be deemed to
have been elected and entitled to qualify.

SEC. 11. And be it enacted, That the Town Council is here-
by empowered, at any time that it shall deem advisable, to
divide the town of North Beach into election districts and ap-