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" best of my knowledge, "without favour or partiality; so help me God; " that every clerk, before he
enters any vote on the polls, shall take the following oath, or affirmation, to wit: " I, A, B. do
" swear, or affirm, that I will-well and faithfully, without favour, affection or partiality, execute the
" office of clerk of the election or elections now to be held, according to the best of my knowledge;
" its so help me God; " and the oath or. affirmation of the clerks shall be administered by a judge of the
election, and the oath or affirmation of a judge shall be administered by a justice of the peace, or if
no justice of the peace be present to administer the same, it shall be administered by a clerk of the
said election, after such clerk shall have been qualified as aforesaid; and a certificate of every such oath
or affirmation, signed by the person administering the same respectively, shall be annexed to the polls..
XII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the elections aforesaid respectively shall commence at nine
o'clock in the morning of the respective days of election, and shall continue without adjournment,
and be closed at six. o'clock in the evening of the same day, and no ballot shall be taken before the
said hour of nine o'clock in the morning, nor after the said hour of six o'clock in the evening, and
every voter shall deliver to the judge or judges of the election in the district in which he offers to
vote, a ballot, on which shall be written, or printed, the name or names of the person, or persons
voted for, and the purpose for which the vote is given, plainly designated, and the ballot so deliver-
ed in, and received by the judge or judges of the election, shall be deposited in the ballot box till
the poll be closed; and if any judge of an election, or other person, after any ballot shall be deli-
vered in as aforesaid, and before the poll is closed, shall unfold or open any such ballot, with design
to discover the name or names therein contained, every person so offending shall forfeit and pay the
sum of fifty dollars; and if any voter shall offer any more than one ballot, with a fraudulent design,
every such person shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty dollars for every such offence.
XIII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That when the poll shall be closed, the box wherein the ballots are
deposited shall be immediately thereafter opened by the judge or judges of the election, and the said
judge or judges shall publicly, - in the presence of such persons as may choose to attend, carefully take
out the said ballots, and read distinctly and aloud the name or names written or printed thereon re-
spectively, and the clerks of such 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 candidate tallied thereon may be readily
cast up and known; and if upon opening any of the said ballots there be found any more names
written or printed on any of them than there- ought to be, or if any two or more of such ballots or
papers be deceitfully folded together, or if the purpose. for which the vote is given is not plainly de-
signated as within directed, such ballots shall be rejected, and not counted.
XIV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That as soon as the ballots shall be read off and counted, and the
number for each candidate reckoned up and ascertained, the judge or judges of the election shall make
out, under his or their hands, attested by the clerks of the election, or one of them, on the books of
the polls, two plain, fair and distinct statements and certificates of the number of votes which shall
have been then and there given for each candidate, distinguishing the station or office for which he
has been voted, which numbers shall be expressed in words at length, and not in figures only, ac-
cording to the form following, or to the like effect, to wit: " State of Maryland, —— county, to
" wit: We the. undersigned, duly appointed by the levy court of said county, or by a justice of the
" peace, or the voters, (as the case may be, ) in due form of law, judge or judges of the elections in
" district No. ——, do hereby certify and return, that we did attend on the —— Monday of ——,
" in the year eighteen hundred and —— at ——, the place by law appointed for holding the electi-
" ons within said district, and did then and there appoint —— and —— clerks of the election, who
" severally qualified as directed by law; we further certify, that we did then and there, before a
" justice of the peace of said county, (or before one of said clerks, as the case may be, ) qualify as
" judge or judges of the election, as by law directed, and did then and there, at the hour of ——
" o'clock in the morning, open the polls for an election for four delegates to represent said county
" in the general assembly, or ————, (as the case may be, ) that we continued the polls open until
" six o'clock in the evening of the same day, when they were closed, the ballot box opened, and
" the ballots publicly counted, when it appeared that ——— had —— votes as a delegate to the ge-
" neral assembly, (or ———, as the case may be. ) Given under our hands, at the place of said
" election, this —— day of —, in. the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and ——. Attested
" by —— ——, clerks. "
XV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the presiding judges of elections, or in case of inability to at-
tend, either of the other judges, shall, on the second day after every election, (except in cases of
elections in the city of Baltimore, where the judges shall meet on the day next succeeding the holding
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CHAP.
XCVII.
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