748                                 Laws of Maryland                        [Ch. 354

Each signer shall append to his signature his residence, and the
name of the county or city where he is registered as a voter, and
immediately below the signature of any signer there shall be either
printed or typed the name of the signer. Every paper shall be
accompanied by an affidavit or affidavits which state that the
signers are registered voters of the county or city as set forth in
the petition and that the affiant or affiants witnessed the applica-
tion of each signature to the paper. The affidavits shall be made
before a Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, or other officer author-
ized to take oaths under the laws of this State by one or more persons
known personally to the Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, or other
official and it shall be so certified.

(c)  Restrictions on signers. No person shall sign more than one
petition for the formation of a new political party between each
general election in the State; nor shall any person sign more than
once on any petition for the formation of a new political party.

(d)   Verification of signatures; endorsement; delivery of petitions;
determination of sufficiency of signers. All papers containing sig-
natures which are appended to a Petition for Formation of a Polit-
ical Party which shall be filed with the State Administrative Board
of Election Laws, shall be submitted by the State Administrative
Board of Election Laws to the board for the county or the City of
Baltimore in which the signers on the paper are alleged to reside,
within fifteen days after the receipt of the petition and appended
papers by the State Administrative Board of Election Laws. It shall
be the duty of the several boards in the jurisdiction in which the
signers are alleged to be registered voters to verify the number of
legitimate signatures of persons who are registered voters. On any
petition submitted to the board any question concerning the invalidity
of the signature of any person on the petition shall affect that sig-
nature only and shall not affect or impair any other portion of the
petition. Following the verification, a duly authorized employee of
the board shall endorse on each paper the number of signatures
verified by the employee and shall endorse and sign the paper. For
the purpose of the endorsement, each paper shall contain a blank
space for the endorsement. After verification and endorsement as
herein required, which shall be completed within fifteen days after
receipt of the papers by the board, all papers delivered to the board
pursuant to this subsection shall be mailed or returned to the
State Administrative Board of Election Laws. If the total required
number of signatures is properly appended to the Petition for Forma-
tion of a Political Party, and the petition is otherwise in proper form
and meets all of the requirements of this section, the party shall be
promptly notified. Upon the filing of an interim constitution and
bylaws with the State Administrative Board of Election Laws in
the manner and within the time hereinafter provided, the political
party designated in the petition shall be considered a political party
for the purposes of this article.

(e)  Effect of insufficient number of signatures. If the total re-
quired number of signatures is not properly appended to the Petition
for Formation of a Political Party, it shall be declared insufficient
by the State Administrative Board of Election Laws and the party
shall not be deemed a political party for the purposes of this article.
, AND THE APPLICANT SHALL BE PROMPTLY NOTIFIED.