976 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 799

any municipal primary election, as provided for in Section
239 of this Article, shall be given the right and every pos-
sibility to register and vote by mail in any such municipal
primary election, to the fullest extent permitted by the
Constitution of this State.

239B. For the purposes of this sub-title, and unless
otherwise required by the context—

1. An absentee resident means a resident of the City
of Baltimore, State of Maryland, qualified to vote under
the Constitution and laws of the State of Maryland, and
the Charter of the City of Baltimore, as to age, party affilia-
tion, citizenship and length of residence in the said City,
and not disfranchised because of crime, and who is absent
or engaged in the military or naval service of the United
States, or home temporarily on a leave of absence from
the said armed forces, but who shall be under duty to
return to the said armed forces before the day and date
of said election; and who, because of such absence, is
unable either to qualify or to vote in person in any such
election, as herein defined, in the war or election district
of the City of Baltimore.

(a) All such absentee residents who are members of
any branch of the armed forces of the United States and
of any of their respective components;

(b) All such absentee residents who are members of the
Merchant Marine of the United States, and who are hereby
defined to be persons who are employed as officers or mem-
bers of crews of vessels documented under the laws of the
United States and persons enrolled for such employment
with the War Shipping Administration, exclusive, how-
ever, of those in the service or enrolled for service on the
Great Lakes or the inland waterways of the United States;

(c) All such absentee residents who are serving with
the American Red Cross, the Society of Friends, the
Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots and the United Service
Organizations who are attached to or serving with the
armed forces of the United States outside of the United
States;

(d) All such absentee residents who have been honor-
ably discharged from the armed forces of the United States
too late to register or vote as required, except for the pro-
visions of this sub-title.

For all purposes of this sub-title, an Absentee Resident
shall be deemed and held to have resided continuously in
the ward or election district in which he resided at the
time he first left to become absent and engaged in the
military or naval service of the United States, as herein