368 LAWS OF MARYLAND [CH. 137

polls, the judge of the election JUDGES OF THE ELECTION
shall proceed to count the ballots but no ballot cast by a
voter dwelling in one ward for a candidate for the office of
councilman of another ward, and no ballot cast for more
than one candidate for the office of mayor shall be counted.
The counting of the ballots or checking of the votes on vot-
ing machines, shall not be adjourned or postponed until it
shall have been fully completed, and the returns shall be
announced publicly and written returns fully completed and
signed by the judges and clerks of election, and sealed in an
envelope with the names of said judges and clerks signed
thereon, shall be sent, one copy to the mayor of said town
and one copy to the town clerk and treasurer for filing
among the records of the town. Any judge or clerk who de-
clines to sign said return shall prepare, sign and seal in an
envelope and send as aforesaid, an individual return, giving
his reason therefor. The ballots shall then be returned to the
ballot boxes from which they were removed, a paper seal
with the signatures of the judges and clerks thereon shall
be pasted upon said ballot boxes in such manner that the
boxes cannot be opened without breaking said seal and in
the event voting machines are used in lieu of the paper
ballots, the voting machines, upon completion of the tabu-
lation of the votes cast, shall be sealed as provided by law
for general elections of state and county officials, and said
boxes or voting machines, sealed as aforesaid, shall then
be retained by the Board of Election Supervisors for a
period of thirty days after which period of time the boxes
may be opened and the ballots destroyed, provided, how-
ever, that if there be a contest of the election, said ballots
shall not be destroyed until after the decision of the Circuit
Court for Prince George's County.

(C) Any candidate at said elections may contest the
same and the Circuit Court for Prince George's County
shall have jurisdiction to determine such contest and may
adopt such modes of proceedings and adjudging costs in
cases of contested election as to him may seem most just.

No such contest shall, however, be considered unless the
petition for the same is filed in the Circuit Court of Prince
George's County within seven days, exclusive of Sundays
and legal holidays, after the public announcement by the
Board of Election Supervisors of the result of the election.

(D) Any person desiring to be a candidate for an elec-
tive office under the terms of this sub-title shall file, not
less than thirty days previous to the date of election with
the Board of Election Supervisors herein provided for, a
petition setting forth that said candidate is not less than