Marvin Mandel, Governor                       1729

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 application shall be filed
[certificate shall be received and filed, together with the applica-
tion,] in the office of the board of supervisors of elections not later
than seven (7) days prior to any election. [Thereafter] Upon
receipt of the application 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 controlled
by the applicable procedure provided by law for absentee voting.

(a-1) Emergency absentee ballot. Within 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 emergency absentee ballot if, as a condition of his
employment, he is required to be absent from the county or Balti-
more 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 occurring after the time of making application
for an absentee ballot. The application shall be made under penalty
of perjury but without formal oath, setting forth the reason why
the voter is unable to be present at the polls on the day of the
election [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 certificate from a duly licensed physician stating that the voter,
because of illness or injury, is confined to the hospital or bed and
will be unable to vote in person at the polls, whichever is ap-
plicable.] Upon receipt 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 ballot 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 desig-
nate an individual eighteen (18) years old or older [a voter regis-
tered 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 under penalty of perjury 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
authorized agent shall mean the voter's employer, supervisor, attor-
ney, or member of the voter's immediate family.] Any emergency
absentee ballot received by the board after the time for closing of
the polls shall not be counted.

(b) Any otherwise qualified voter who is blind, physically dis-
abled or who has impaired vision and is for one of these reasons
unable to mark his absentee ballot and sign the required oath,
may be assisted in voting by any person selected by the voter. Any
person rendering assistance pursuant to this subsection shall exe-
cute the certification set forth in Section 27-8 (h) of this article.

27-4.

(a) A qualified voter desiring to vote at any election as an
absentee voter shall make application in writing to the board for
an absentee ballot, which application must be received not later than