BALLOTS AND BALLOT-BOXES.

All ballots cast in elections for public officers within this State shall be printed and distributed as hereinafter provided. The printing of ballots and cards of instruction for the voters in each county and the city of Baltimore, and the delivery of the same to the judges of election, as provided in this Article, shall be at public expense, the payment of which shall be provided for by the several counties and the city of Baltimore respectively.

All ballot-boxes shall be constructed as follows: Each box shall be one foot, outside measure, as near as may be, in width and length, and eighteen inches in depth, strapped and secured on each edge and corner with iron or brass, so as to prevent it from being easily broken, and shall have a wooden lid, which shall be fastened with brass or iron hinges, and a good lock, and there shall be in the lid a slit. just large enough to admit a single folded ballot at one time, and the sides of the box shall be of clear plate-glass not less than one-eighth of an inch in thickness.

49. It shall be the duty of the Board of Supervisors of Elections of each county and of the city of Baltimore, to provide ballots for every election for public offices held under this Article in which any voters within the county or said city shall participate, and to cause to be printed on the ballot the name of every candidate whose name has been certified to or filed with the proper clerk of court in the manner herein provided for; but the said Supervisors shall not be required to print any name upon a ballot if the same shall not have been certified to them at least six days before election day. Each ballot shall also contain a statement of every constitutional amendment or other question to be submitted to the vote of the people at any election. Ballots other than those printed by the respective boards of Supervisors of Elections according to the provisions of this Article, shall not be cast or counted in any election, except as hereinafter provided. Nothing in this Article contained shall

prevent any voter from writing or pasting on his ballot and marking in the proper place the name of any person other than those already printed for whom he may desire to vote for any office, and such vote shall be counted the same as if the name of such person had been printed upon the ballot. and marked by the voter. Any voter may take with him. into the polling-place any printed or written memorandum or paper to assist him in marking or preparing his ballot, except a fac-simile of the ballot to be voted. Ballots shall be printed and in possession of the Supervisors of Elections. at least four days before election day, and shall be subject to the inspection of the candidates and their agents. If any mistake be discovered, it shall be the duty of said Supervisors to correct the same without delay; and if said Supervisors shall decline or refuse to make such correction, then, upon the sworn petition of any qualified voter who would have the right to vote for such candidate at the approaching election, the Circuit Court for the county or one of the judges of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore city may, by order, require said Supervisors of Elections to correct such error, or to show cause why such error should not be corrected.

50. The form and arrangement of the ballots shall be as follows: All ballots shall contain the name of every candidate whose nomination for any office specified in the ballot has been certified to and filed according to the provisions of this Article, and not withdrawn in accordance herewith, and shall contain no other names, except that, in the case of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, the names of the candidates for President and VicePresident may be added to the party or political designation, and the name of the city or county in which a candidate resides shall be added to the name of each candidate on ballots for State offices. The names of candidates nominated by each party shall be grouped together upon each ballot, and each group shall be headed by the name of the political party by which the candidates comprised in said

party were placed in nomination, as described in the certificate of nomination. When the name of a political party is given in connection with the name of a candidate nominated, as provided in Section 38 of this Article, it shall be stated on the ballot; but if there shall have been any nomination for the same office by a convention or primary election claiming the same party name, duly certified as herein before provided, the word "Independent" shall precede the party name of the candidate nominated under the provisions of the said Section 38. If the same party name or emblem shall be claimed on behalf of nominations made by more than one convention or primary election, and duly certified as aforesaid, the officers by whom the ballot is to be prepared, or a majority of them, shall determine which nominees are justly entitled to the party designation or emblem, and the word "Independent" shall precede the party name of the other group or groups of nominees, and the emblem shall be omitted from such "Independent" group or groups. Said groups shall be printed on said ballots in columns parallel to each other, the group representing the party polling the largest number of votes for Governor in the State at the last gubernatorial election being placed first, or at the left of said groups, the group representing the party polling the next largest number of votes at said election being placed second, and the group representing the party polling the next largest number of votes at such election, third, and so on.

Candidates of parties not having made nominations at the last gubernatorial election, and other independent candidates, shall be arranged in like groups, according to the date of filing the certificates of nomination. If a candidate is named for the same office on two or more certificates of nomination, his name shall be placed in each of the several appropriate groups. Above the party name shall be printed the party emblem, if any, the size whereof shall not exceed two and one-half inches in height and two inches in breadth. Any party in State convention, or by State committee, may select any emblem, which shall be certified at the time and

in the same manner that the nominations are certified, and which shall be the emblem of the party throughout the State until changed by like authority. In case the same emblem is selected by two or more parties, it shall be the emblem of the party whose certificate is first filed, and the other party may, in like manner, certify another. Where candidates have been nominated in any other manner than by a convention or primary election or by a committee acting under the authority of a convention, an emblem may be adopted and certified in the manner aforesaid, provided that the emblem selected shall not be one already appropriated to a political party.

51. Said groups shall contain the names of the offices to be voted for, and under each office the name or names of the candidates in the order given in the nominating certificates, with a reasonable space between said names. Between the groups and to the right of each group there shall be a ruled column of one-third of an inch in width parallel to said groups and close to the group to its left. Between the names of the candidates in said groups, and across said ruled column, shall be drawn lines so that, in the parallelogram or space so formed, the voter may clearly indicate in the way hereinafter pointed out the candidate or candidates for whom he wishes to cast his ballot. On said ballot, and following the groups aforesaid containing the candidates of parties nominated, as hereinbefore provided, there shall be a space equal in width to that occupied by a single group, which shall contain the names of the offices to be filled at such election, with lines drawn between the same enclosing spaces equal in number to the candidates for each office to be voted for. Said lines shall extend through a column of one-third of an inch in width, so that the same shall be similar to the lines and columns of a group containing the names of candidates. In the spaces so provided a voter may write and mark the name of any person for whom he desires to vote. If at such election there be a constitutional question, or any question to be submitted to the popular vote, the said question shall be placed upon said ballot in the form following: "For

constitutional amendment," "Against constitutional amendment," or "For proposition " "Against proposi

tion And said respective questions shall be placed in a column or group and have lines drawn under the same, crossing a column as herein before mentioned, so that the same shall form a parallelogram, or space where the voter may clearly indicate, in the way hereinafter pointed out, whether he shall wish to cast his ballot for or against the proposition or propositions submitted.

52. Said ballots shall be printed upon plain white printing paper of ordinary book weight, in black ink, and in clear legible type. On the back and outside shall be printed the words, "official ballot for," followed by the designation of the polling place for which it is prepared, the date of the election, and a fac-simile of the signature of the President of the Board of Supervisors of Elections by whom the ballot has been prepared.

Said ballot shall be printed on the same leaf with a detachable stub or coupon one inch high and three inches wide, above the upper right hand corner of the ballot, and binding on the upper edge thereof but separated therefrom by a line running along the entire width of said coupon. Upon said coupon shall be printed the words, "Voter's Name," with a line drawn thereunder for writing said name, and under said line the words, "Number of Vote," followed by a blank space for the insertion of such number. Before distribution said ballots shall be so folded in marked creases that no part of the marks or printing thereon, excepting that upon the back and outside and that upon the detachable stub or coupon, shall be visible, and so that the folded ballots shall be of uniform width and length, and of proper width to be deposited in the ballot-boxes. All ballots, when printed, shall be folded as above provided, and fastened together in convenient numbers in packages, books or blocks, so that each ballot may be detached and removed separately.