HERBERT R. O'CONOR, GOVERNOR. 1477

political parties to aid in hearing such applications or chal-
lenges at a compensation fixed as provided in Section 4 of this
Article. Persons whose right to register has been challenged
and persons whose names are alleged to have been erroneously
omitted or dropped from the registration lists shall be notified
and may appear in person or by counsel. At the request of
either party, the Board shall issue subpoenas to witnesses to
appear at such hearings, who shall be sworn and examined.
All cases shall be decided immediately after hearing.

27. Any person who feels aggrieved by the action of any
Board of Registry, or in Baltimore City by the action of the
Board of Supervisors or any of its Registrars or by the action
of any boards appointed under Section 26 of this Article, in
refusing to register him as a qualified voter, or in erasing or
misspelling his name, or that of any other person on the regis-
try, or in registering or failing to erase the name of any fic-
titious, deceased or disqualified person, may at any time, either
before or after the last session of the Board of Registry, but not
later than the Saturday next preceding the election, if in Balti-
more City, and not later than the Tuesday next preceding the
election, if in the counties, file a petition, verified by affidavit, in
the Circuit Court, for the county, or, if the cause of complaint
arises in Baltimore City, in any Court of said city, setting forth
the ground of his application and asking to have the registry
corrected. The Court shall forthwith set the petition for hear-
ing and direct summons to be issued requiring the said Board
or other official to attend at the hearing or by counsel; and
when the object of the petition is to strike off the name of any
person alleged to be fictitious, deceased or disqualified, sum-
mons shall also be issued to such person. In determining
whether any person is or is not a resident of any voting pre-
cinct, it shall be presumed that if a person is shown to have
acquired a residence in one locality, he retains the same until
it is affirmatively shown that he has acquired a residence else-
where; and it shall also be presumed that if a person is shown
not to reside at the dwelling given in the entries relating to him
on the registration books, forms or cards, he is not a resident
of the said precinct, unless it should be affirmatively shown that
he is such a resident. The court shall dispose of the matter
summarily by granting or refusing the order prayed, and if the
Board of Registry shall have returned the registers to the
Supervisors of Elections, a certified copy of any such order
granted by the court shall be delivered to said Supervisors, who
shall thereupon make the required correction upon the proper
registers and under the head of "Remarks" note that the same
was made under such order of the Court; but no person ad-
mitted to the registry by such order of court shall be protected
by such order if prosecuted for false registration or false vot-