790                              Laws of Maryland                       Ch. 386

shall be elected in Charles County to comprise the County Board of
Education of Charles County. They shall be elected on a non-
partisan basis, and no party labels or party identification shall be
shown or displayed with respect to candidates for these positions on
the ballots or ballot labels.

(c)    Nomination for membership on the Charles County Board of
Education shall be by petition signed by at least two hundred (200)
voters from the County. Each petition shall be filed with the Board
of Supervisors of Elections of Charles County not later than midnight
on the Monday which is ten weeks or seventy days before the day on
which the general election is held; except that in the year 1970 the
petition shall be filed not later than midnight on the day of September
25, 1970. Each petition shall conform generally to the laws and re-
quirements in Article 33 of this Code, but publication of each peti-
tion shall not be required. Any person so nominated shall be a quali-
fied voter and resident in the county. Each nominee at the time of
filing his petition shall submit therewith a filing fee in the amount
of $25.00.

(d)    The seven members of the Board shall be elected at large
in Charles County.

(e)    The several persons elected shall have four-year terms, be-
ginning on December 15, 1970, and each four years thereafter, except
that if this date is a legal holiday, the term of office shall begin
on the first day thereafter which is not a legal holiday. Vacancies
on the board at any time shall be filled by the Governor for the un-
expired term. The members of the Board from time to time shall
elect one of their number as Chairman of the Board. Except as in
this section provided, the other provisions of this Article apply to
the Board of Education of Charles County.

(f)    Each member of the Board of Education of Charles County
shall receive an annual compensation in the amount of $600.00 pay-
able quarterly.

(g)    The County Board of Education of Charles County shall per-
form the usual functions of a County Board of Education as pro-
vided elsewhere in this Article or it may adopt bylaws for the reg-
ulation and administration of the public schools within the County,
not inconsistent with State law. All such action shall be accom-
plished at a public meeting, the formal record of which also shall be
public. Nothing in this section shall be deemed or applied to deny
the power of the Board to meet and deliberate in executive session,
except that all formal action of the Board together with the in-
dividual vote of each member shall be a matter of public and formal
record.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That before this Act becomes
effective, it shall first be submitted to a referendum of the legally
qualified voters of Charles County at a special election to be held in
conjunction with, on the same day, and during the same hour as,
the regular Statewide primary election of the political parties in the
year 1970, in Charles County. The ballot labels for this referendum
shall have positions separate from those used for the primary elec-
tion; and if ballots are used, they shall be completely separate and
distinct from those provided for the primary elections. There shall