J. MILLARD TAWES, Governor 385

238.

The printed instructions shall be as follows:

INSTRUCTIONS TO VOTERS

Enclosed herewith are a State Absentee Ballot, Ballot Envelope and
a Return Envelope for use in returning the ballot. You are entitled
to vote if you will be unavoidably absent from the [State of Mary-
land] County or Baltimore CITY, AS THE CASE MAY BE, in which
you are registered for good cause which requires you to be elsewhere
on that day, or if you are ill or disabled as provided by law and unable
to vote personally at the polls.

(a) Examine the ballot before marking. When once marked, do
not erase, as an erasure will invalidate the ballot. Mark the ballot with
either pencil or ink by placing an (X) in the block after each candi-
date for whom you wish to vote and in the appropriate block after
each Constitutional amendment, referendum or any other question
(if any appear on the ballot), for or against which you wish to vote.
Be sure not to vote for any number of candidates for any office
greater than the number specified over the names of candidates
for that office. The ballot must be marked secretly. Do not sign your
name or put on the ballot any mark of identification or any other
mark except the (X) mark or the name of a written-in candidate.

(b) Then enclose the ballot in the Ballot Envelope and seal the
same.

(c) After sealing the Ballot Envelope, you must, in the presence
of a witness, fill in the blanks in the "Oath of Absentee Resident"
on the Ballot Envelopes and sign (Do not print) your name on the
line indicated. You must then swear to the Oath before the witness
who must fill in the date, sign his name and indicate his official
position in the space provided, and, if a notary public, affix his of-
ficial seal. The witness must be a notary public or other person
authorized to administer oaths.

(d) It is absolutely necessary that the "Ballot Envelope" con-
tains nothing but one ballot marked by you.

(e) Enclose the Ballot Envelope in the Return Envelope, seal the
Return Envelope and mail at once.

(f) The ballot may be marked and mailed at any time after you
receive it but it must be received by the appropriate Supervisors of
Elections not later than the closing of the polls on election day. If it
is not received prior to such closing, it will not be counted.

(g) If, in any election other than a primary, you desire not to
vote for any of the candidates named for any office on the ballot,
you may write in, in the appropriate blank on the ballot, the name
of the person of your choice for such office.

(h) The Absentee Voting Law provides that anyone who wilfully
signs any false application or oath, or who wilfully does any act
contrary to the terms and provisions of the Absentee Voting Law with
intent to cast an illegal vote or to aid another in doing so, or who
wilfully violates any of the provisions of that law or who applies for