MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                        1687

Section 1 of this Article, and a charter adopted pursuant to this
section has the effect of a charter adopted in accordance with the
provisions of Section 1. The board of county commissioners of any
county at any time may appoint a charter board of not more than
nine members, and it . SAID CHARTER BOARD SHALL BE REG-
ISTERED VOTERS AND SHALL CONSIST OF AN UNEVEN
NUMBER OF MEMBERS, NOT FEWER THAN FIVE OR
MORE THAN NINE. THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMIS-
SIONERS shall appoint a charter board within thirty days
after receiving a petition signed by five percent of the regis-
tered voters of the county or by ten thousand voters of the
county, whichever is the lesser number. If additional charter
board members are nominated by petitions signed by three per-
cent of the registered voters of the county or by three TWO
thousand REGISTERED voters, whichever is the lesser num-
ber, delivered to the board of county commissioners within
sixty days after the charter board is appointed, the board
of county commissioners shall call a special election not less
than thirty or more than ninety days after receiving petitions,
unless a regular election falls within the designated period.
The appointees of the board of county commissioners and those
nominated by petitions shall be placed on the ballot in alphabetical
order without party designation. The voters may cast votes for,
and elect a number of nominees equal to the number of charter board
members originally selected by the board of county commissioners,
and those so elected are the charter board. The charter board, within
twelve months from the date of its appointment, or if there was an
election for some of its members, within twelve months from the
date of the election, shall present a proposed charter for the county
to the board of county commissioners, which shall publish it at least
twice in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county
within thirty days after it is presented. The charter shall be sub-
mitted to the voters of the county at a special or regular election
held not earlier than thirty days or later than ninety days after
publication of the charter. If a majority of the votes cast for and
against the adoption of the charter are in favor of its adoption, the
charter shall become effective as the charter of the county on the
thirtieth day after the election or such later date as shall be specified
in the charter.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the aforegoing section
hereby proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of Maryland,
at the next ensuing general election to be held in this State, shall
be submitted to the legal and qualified voters thereof for their adop-
tion or rejection in pursuance of directions contained in Article
XIV of the Constitution of this State, and at the said general election,
the vote on the said proposed amendment to the Constitution shall
be by ballot, and upon each ballot there shall be printed