PARRIS N. GLENDENING, Governor                             Ch. 112

(II) THE NUMBER OF JUDGES WHO BELONG TO THE PRINCIPAL
MINORITY PARTY.

(3) THE BOARD MAY DESIGNATE AS A CHIEF JUDGE ONLY A PERSON WHO
BELONGS TO EITHER THE MAJORITY PARTY OR THE PRINCIPAL MINORITY PARTY.

(4) THE BOARD MAY NOT APPOINT AS A JUDGE A DECLINE UNLESS THE
BOARD HAS FIRST MADE A GOOD FAITH EFFORT TO APPOINT TO THAT POSITION A
JUDGE WHO BELONGS TO THE MAJORITY PARTY OR PRINCIPAL MINORITY PARTY.

2-8.

(a) If any judge shall not be present at the expiration of fifteen minutes after the time
for the opening of the polls, the judge or judges present shall fill the place of the absent judge
by appointing in his stead a person [of the same political party] REGISTERED IN THE SAME
MANNER WITH RESPECT TO PARTY AFFILIATION as the absentee. One of the judges shall
administer to such substitute the oath required of the judge originally appointed.

(b) (1) After the opening of the polls, a judge may not absent himself until all the
ballots cast have been counted and the returns completed. In case of absolute necessity, if any
judge in attendance is compelled to absent himself, he shall appoint some fit person [of the
same political party] REGISTERED IN THE SAME MANNER WITH RESPECT TO PARTY
AFFILIATION as himself to act in his stead until his return, having first administered to the
substitute the same oath as he himself has taken.

(2) A judge who is appointed to serve in a district, ward, or precinct other than
the one in which he is registered to vote and who chooses to vote shall cast his vote by absentee
ballot pursuant to § 27-1(a).

(c) Blank forms for the appointment of the substitute judges and the oath aforesaid
shall be supplied by the board, and the oath when administered shall be preserved and
returned by the judges to the board.

(d) The appointment and swearing in of all such substitutes and the reason therefor
and the time when such substitute began and ceased to serve shall be noted by the judges on
loose-leaf pages inserted in the binders containing the precinct cards; such substitute shall
cease to act whenever the judge in whose stead he was appointed shall be present.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect
October 1, 1996.

Approved April 30, 1996.

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