1514 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 934

sons entitled to be present may conveniently see every ballot
deposited therein. The sealed package of ballots shall not be
opened until after the ballot-box shall have been so examined,
closed and locked by the judges.

68. At every election each qualified voter shall be entitled to
receive one official ballot. The person applying therefor to the
judge of election holding the ballots shall give his name and
residence, and the said judge shall repeat the same in a loud
and distinct voice; and if such name be found upon the regis-
ters by the judges having custody thereof, they shall repeat the
said name, and the voter shall be allowed to enter the space en-
closed by the guard-rail, and the judge holding the ballots,
having first written in ink the voter's name and number upon
the coupon attached to one of them, shall deliver said ballot to
the voter after having likewise written in ink his own name or
initials upon the back thereof, and the two clerks of election
shall at the same time enter the name of the voter upon their
poll books. Upon receipt of his ballot the voter shall forthwith,
and without leaving the enclosed space, retire alone to one of
the booths or compartments and prepare his ballot by marking
with an indelible pencil after the name of every person or per-
sons for whom he intends to vote, and to the right thereof, in
the blank space provided therefor, a cross—for example (X) —
and in case of a question submitted to a vote of the people, by
marking likewise in the appropriate space a cross-mark (X)
against the answer which he desires to give. Not more than
one voter shall be permitted to occupy any one booth or com-
partment at one time, and no voter shall remain in or occupy a
booth longer than may be necessary to prepare his ballot, and
in no event longer than seven minutes in case all such booths or
compartments are in use and other voters are waiting to occupy
the same. Before leaving the voting booth or compartment the
voter shall fold his ballot without displaying the marks there-
on, and in the same way it was folded when received by him,
and he shall keep the same so folded until he has voted, and so
that the signature or initials of the judge from whom he re-
ceived it, and the name and number written on the coupon
thereof, but nothing else thereon may be seen. He shall forth-
with hand his said ballot to the judge at the ballot box, and
shall give his name and residence and upon his being identified
as the person who received said ballot, the judge shall deposit
his ballot in the box, having first detached therefrom its coupon,
which he shall then string upon a cord or wire to be provided
for the purpose, and the said voter shall forthwith leave the
enclosed space. The judges having charge of the registers shall
then in the column therein headed "voted" in the same line with
the name of the voter mark the word "voted" or the letter "V".
No ballot without the indorsement of the name or initials of the