1144 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 660

45C. 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; and no ballot
containing any other mark, writing or device than such as
is authorized or allowed by this Article shall be counted; and
no ballot without the official endorsement and the initials of
the Clerk of Election shall be deposited in the ballot box, but
shall be rejected and kept by the Judge and Clerk of Election
in a separate place; ballots not counted and rejected shall be
marked "Defective" on the back thereof, and shall be trans-
mitted to the Mayor and Council immediately after election
and they shall then be destroyed.

45D. When the polls shall be closed the box wherein the
ballots are deposited shall immediately thereafter, in the
presence of the Mayor of said town, be opened by the Judge
of Election who shall publicly take out the said ballots and
read distinctly and aloud the name or names written or
printed thereon respectively; and the Clerk of said Election
shall carefully enter and keep an account of the same on the
books of the polls so that the number of votes for each candi-
date may be readily cast up and known; when the ballots have
been canvassed, the said Judge and Clerk of the Election shall
total the number of votes received by each candidate; the
Judge of Election shall make out under his hand, attested by
the Clerk of the Election, a full and distinct statement of the
number of votes which shall have been then and there given
for each candidate, distinguishing the office for which he has
been voted, and certify the same to the Mayor and Council
of the said town of Boonsboro. The Judge and Clerk of the
Election shall deliver the ballot box, properly locked and
sealed, to the Mayor and Council, and it shall be safely kept
in the custody of the Clerk of the town for the space of thirty
days from the date of such election, at which time said ballot
box shall be opened by the said Clerk and said ballots de-
stroyed, during which space of thirty days said ballot box shall
not be opened except when ordered by the Court in a judicial
investigation or a contested election.

45E. Any Clerk of the Election who shall place his initials
upon any ballot, save when about to deliver it to a voter in the
polling room, and any person whatsoever, who shall wilfully
destroy, conceal, or retain any ballot duly prepared for voting,
or wilfully break the seals of any package, book, or block of
ballots, or abstract any ballot or ballots therefrom, or have
any such ballot, except for the lawful purposes in this Article
provided in his possession, or any paper purporting to be an