Marvin Mandel, Governor                         509

[(c)] (b) Any qualified voter who is a full-time and regular
student in a bona fide school, college, hospital or similar institution
and who is unavoidably absent from the county or Baltimore City
where he is registered to vote on any election day; and

[(d)] (c) (B) Any qualified person as defined in Section 27-2 of
this article.

27-2.

(a) Any qualified voter whose physical disability confines him to
a hospital or causes him to be confined to bed and prevents or will
prevent him from being present and personally voting at the polls
on any election day shall also be entitled to vote as an absentee
voter under this subtitle. Such voter shall make application for an
absentee ballot as provided in Section 27-4 of this article and in
addition shall obtain a certificate from a duly licensed physician
of this State. The certificate shall state that the voter is mentally
competent to vote in elections in this State, and that because of
illness or injury which confines him to a hospital or causes him to
be confined to bed, the voter is now, or will be, prevented from
voting personally at the election. The certificate shall be received
and filed, together with the application, in the office of the board of
supervisors of elections not later than ten (10) SEVEN (7) days
prior to any election. Thereafter the board shall mail to the voter
entitled thereto an absentee ballot. In all other respects, absentee
voting as provided for in this section shall be similar to and con-
trolled by the applicable procedure provided by law for absentee
voting.

(a-1) Within [ten (10)] seven (7) days of an election and on the
day of the election prior to the time the polls close, any person
registered and otherwise qualified to vote may apply for an emer-
gency absentee ballot if, as a condition of his employment, he is re-
quired to be absent from the [State] county or Baltimore City where
he is registered to vote on the day of an election, or is unable to be
physically present at the polls as a result of illness or accident occur-
ring after the time of making application for an absentee ballot. The
application shall be made under oath, setting forth the reason why
the voter is unable to be present at the polls on the day of the elec-
tion and shall be accompanied by a statement under oath by the
voter's employer stating that the voter will be unable to vote on
election day because of absence caused by his employment, or a cer-
tificate from a duly licensed physician stating that the voter, because
of illness or injury, is confined to the hospital or bed and will be un-
able to vote in person at the polls, whichever is applicable. Upon re-
ceipt of the application, the board, if satisfied that the person cannot,
in fact, be present at the polling place on the day of the election, shall
issue to the applicant, or his duly authorized agent, an absentee bal-
lot which shall be marked by the voter, placed in a sealed envelope,
and returned to the board. If the applicant does not apply in person,
the application shall designate a voter registered in the same county
or Baltimore City as agent for the purpose of delivering the absentee
ballot to the voter, and the agent shall execute an affidavit that the
ballot was delivered to the voter who submitted the application, was
marked by the voter in the agent's presence, was placed in a sealed
envelope in the agent's presence, and returned, under seal, to the
board by the agent. For the purposes of this subsection duly author-