respective registry books immediately under the last name registered under each letter on said registers so that no new name can be added thereto without discovery. It shall be the duty of the Board of Registry, after the close of each session to note for erasure from such registers the names of all persons known or supposed to be dead and the names of all persons who are suspected of being disqualified under Sections 2 and 3 of Article 1 of the Constitution of the State, and the names of all persons who are supposed to have removed from such precinct and have not taken out removal papers and of all persons who are suspected to be otherwise disqualified as voters, and they shall, before separating, make out a list of all persons so noted for erasure with the address as the same appears upon the registers. In making out such list said Board of Registry shall treat as persons suspected of not being qualified voters all persons against whom a sworn complaint is filed by any voter in the ward. Such complaint shall be as a voter of........ward, do who professes follows: solemnly swear that I believe. to reside at..... is not a qualified voter in the. . . . . . . . precinct of the.. ...ward, on the ground, (here state the reason). If a majority of the Board know, or are satisfied that such complaint is untrue they need not note such name for erasure unless required by a member of the board. Said list shall be arranged under the following headings: "Disqualified Voters," under which shall be placed the names of persons suspected to be disqualified under Sections .2 and 3 of Article 1 of the Constitution, or otherwise; "Deceased Voters," under which shall be placed all who are known or supposed to be dead; "Removed," under which shall be placed all who are known or supposed to have removed from their last address. On each of the Tuesdays before separating said Board of Registry shall make out and deliver to two of their number, of opposite politics, a list of the registry addresses of all those whose names are on the registers of voters as qualified voters whom the officers of registration in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section have noted for erasure. The said two officers of registration to whom such list is delivered shall thereupon proceed in respect thereto as the provisions of Section 20 of this Article direct. On each of the Tuesdays, respectively, six and four weeks preceding the regular election in November, the Board of Registry in each precinct, shall, at the beginning of the session receive the report of the said two officers of registration to whom the aforesaid list was delivered at the last preceding session and shall proceed in regard thereto as directed by the provisions of Section 21 of this Article. The Board of Registry shall again meet for revisions only on the Tuesday three weeks before said election and a session shall be held between the hours of 12 o'clock M., and 8 o'clock P. M. The Board of Registry at this session shall add no new names to the registers of voters, but shall proceed as the provisions of Section 21 of this Article direct. Chapter 285, Acts of 1908. 28. All persons whom, prior to the passage of the Act of 1901, Chapter 2 (March 21, 1901), shall have vacated or removed from, or have gone with their parents from the place of their actual abode, domicile, dwelling place or habitation within this State, and shall have taken a domicile, dwelling place, abode or habitation out of this State, shall be conclusively presumed to have thereby intended to abandon their legal residence in this State, and to have surrendered their right to registration as legal voters in this State, unless within thirty days after April 6, 1908, they shall go in person before the clerk of the Circuit Court for the county from which they shall have so removed, or before the clerk of the Superior Court of Baltimore city, if their removal shall have been from said city, and make and acknowledge before such clerk an affidavit that when they so removed they did not intend to change their legal residence within the State, but that they had a fixed purpose to return at a definite time, and that they intend to return to this State and take up their actual domicile and habitation therein, on or before six months next preceding the Tuesday after the first Monday of November next succeeding the making of such affidavit. The form of such affidavit shall be substantially as follows: State of Maryland, ..county, or city of Baltimore, Sct. I hereby certify that on this........day of..... 19..., before the subscriber, clerk of the Circuit Court for ...county, (or of the Superior Court of Balti .....and more city) personally appeared... made oath (or affirmation) in due form of law, that up to the day of or thereabouts he was an actual resident and inhabitant of the election district of..... or of the. ..precinct of the. ..county, ward of the .legislative district of Baltimore city, that on or about the..........day of...... .he removed from his said domicile or place of residence in said county or city, and took up his domicile, habitation, dwelling, place of abode out of the State of Maryland, to wit: (in here insert minute and definite description of the place of abode) that when he so removed out of the State he had a fixed and definite purpose to return thereto by a certain time, and that he did not intend by such removal to change his residence within the State, or to return, or not to return to this State, as circumstances thereafter might make expedient; sworn to before me (signature of clerk, seal of Court); and unless the persons respectively making such affidavit shall actually return to this State, and shall actually take up their abode, domicile or habitation therein, six months before the Tuesday after the first Monday in November next succeeding the making of said affidavit, they shall be conclusively presumed to have lost their legal residence therein, and shall not be entitled to registration therein as legal voters, and officers of registration shall strike off their names from the registry if they be entered thereon; and after the passage of Act of 1901, Chapter 2, all persons who shall vacate and remove from the place of their actual domicile, abode, dwelling place or habitation within this State, and shall take up a domicile, abode, dwelling place or habitation out of this State, shall be conclusively presumed to have lost their residence in this State, and shall in consequence thereof, become disqualified to vote unless at or about the time of such removal, or within ten days thereafter they shall go in person before the clerk of the Circuit Court for the county from which they shall so remove, or before the clerk of the Superior Court of Baltimore city, if such removal be from said city, and shall make and acknowledge before him an affidavit declaring that notwithstanding such removal from their domicile, abode, dwelling place or habitation, they do not intend thereby to change their legal residence, but that they have a fixed and definite purpose to return to this State on or before six months preceding the next succeeding election in November. The form of such affidavit shall be as follows: State of Maryland, city or county Sct. I hereby certify that on this........day before the subscriber, clerk ...county (or Superior of.... of. of the Circuit Court for.... and made oath (or affirmation) in due form of law, that on .county (or of the... .election district ..ward in the ...legislative district of Baltimore city) and took up his abode out of the State. (Here insert particular designation of such new abode by election district, precinct, ward, street and number whenever practicable); that notwithstanding such removal he does not intend thereby to change his residence, but that he has a fixed and definite purpose to return to this State on or before six months preceding the next succeeding election in November; sworn to before me (signature of clerk, seal of Court). And if the persons making such affidavits, shall fail so to return and take up their actual abode, domicile, dwelling place and habitation in this State on or before six months next preceding such November election, they shall be conclusively presumed to have abandoned such declared intention, and shall thereupon become disqualified to vote in this State, and the officers of registration shall refuse to register them as qualified voters, or shall strike off their names from the registry if their names be entered thereon. The clerk before whom such affidavit shall be made shall retain, index and record the same, and shall be entitled to demand and receive for each affidavit sworn the sum of thirty cents, and for indexing and recording the affidavit and acknowledgment thereto the same compensation as allowed by law for indexing and recording deeds; such costs to be paid to said clerks by the County Commissioners and Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, respectively. Such affidavits shall not be admissible in evidence as evidence of the right of the persons making the same to registration unless they are recorded within five days from the date of the acknowledgments thereto, and a duly certified copy thereof shall be receivable in evidence in the same manner as a certified copy of a deed. False swearing in any of such affidavits shall be deemed to be perjury, and shall be punishable as perjury is punishable by the Code of Public General Laws, Article 27, title "Crimes and Punishments," subtitle "Perjury." Said officers of registration shall require the production of such affidavits duly recorded, or a duly certified copy thereof in all cases where they have reason to suspect that the person applying to be registered as a qualified voter has lost his resi dence by reason of his removal from the State, as hereinbefore mentioned; and they may also in such cases put any question which they may deem proper to such applicant concerning the place where he dwelt in the county or legislative district before such removal out of the State, his occupation before such removal and since the time when he so removed, and when he returned, and all other pertinent facts and circumstances touching the right of such person to be registered, and they may require the truth of the answers of all persons to such questions to be corroborated by independent evidence, if, in their discretion they shall think proper, and if in answer to their questions or upon testimony produced before them, it shall appear to their satisfaction that the person applying to be registered had left the State without any intention of returning, or with the intention of returning at some indefinite time in the future, he shall not be entitled to be registered as a legal voter; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to United States Senators and Representatives in Congress from Maryland, nor to any judge or justice of any court of the United States in case such judge or justice was at the time of his appointment to such office, or thereafter be came, a registered voter of the State of Maryland, during such period as said judge or justice shall continue in the service of the United States. Any officer of registration who shall fail or refuse to perform the duty imposed upon him by this section shall be subject to the penalties imposed by Section 96 of this Article. Chapter 133, Acts of 1902. 29. All persons who after the passage of the Act of 1902, Chapter 133 (March 29, 1902), shall remove into any county of this State or into the city of Baltimore from any other State, District or Territory shall indicate their intent to become citizens and residents of this State by registering their names in a suitable record book to be procured and kept for the purpose by the clerk of the Circuit Court for the several counties, and by the clerk of the Superior Court of Baltimore city; such record to contain their names, residence, age and occupation; and the intent of such persons to become citizens and residents of this State shall date from the day on which such registry shall be so entered in such record book by the clerk of the Circuit Court for the county, or of the Superior Court of Baltimore city, as the case may be, into which county or city such person shall so remove from any other State, District or Territory. And no person coming into this State from any other State, District or Territory shall be entitled to registration as a legal voter of this State until one year after his intent to become such legal voter shall be thus evidenced by such entry in such record book, and such entry or a duly certified copy thereof shall be the only competent and admissible evidence of such intent. And the clerk of the Superior Court of Baltimore city and of the several courts of the several counties shall immediately, upon the passage of this Act, procure a suitable record book for the recording therein of such entries arranged alphabetically under the names of such persons. For every person so registered under the provisions of this section they shall be entitled to demand and receive the sum of twenty-five cents to be paid to said clerks by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and the County Commissioners, respectively. A copy of such record duly certified by said clerk shall be evidence of the right of such person to registration as legal voters according to law, and each person so registered shall be entitled to such certified copy upon demand without charge. |