tion each body of voters having a candidate on the ticket has the right to have a challenger at the polls, who may see any person offering to vote and protest against him, if there is reason to believe that he is attempting to vote illegally.

17. Counting the Ballots. When the hour for closing the polls comes, all persons leave the room, save the officers and the watchers, if any. Each party which has candidates on the ticket may name one representative to watch the count. The ballot box is then opened, the ballots are taken out, and the judges call out for whom each ballot was cast, while the clerks make record. These records are known as the tally sheets. When all ballots have been called out, the clerks add up the number of votes cast for each candidate.

The totals are known as the returns of that poll and are signed by the election officials. Two copies of these returns are made, which are sent to two different places, one to the Clerk of the Court, the other to the County Commissioners (or Mayor of Baltimore City). Two days after the election the officials meet at the County seat of each county, open the sealed returns from the different election districts or precincts, add up the returns and declare what the result was in the county. In order still further to prevent any fraud or tampering with the result of the vote, the law provides that after the vote is counted by the judges, the ballots are to be put back into the box, which is to be locked. Two judges of different political parties take the box and key, bring them to the Court House, and deliver them to the officials there.

18. Municipal Elections.

These are held at the dates and under the regulations provided by the charter of

the municipality.

19. Number of Votes Required to Elect.-A plurality of the votes cast will elect one to any office. By a plurality is meant a larger number of votes than is cast for any other candidate. A majority means more than half the votes cast, or more than are cast for all the other candidates put together. Whenever the Maryland laws say a majority must be for any measure, they mean a majority of the votes cast, not a majority of the voters entitled to cast ballots. (Const. IV. 11.) If there is a tie between the two highest candidates and no other provision is made in the Constitution, the Governor orders a new election. (Const. XV. 4; IV. 12.)

20. Return of Elections. -The returns of the elections of all officers save State's Attorneys (which are sent to the Circuit Courts) are sent to the Governor with certificates from the Clerks of Courts that they are correct. (The Clerk of the Superior Court certifies in Baltimore City.) The Governor then issues to the persons elected certificates of their right to hold the offices, which certificates are known as commissions. (Const. IV. 11.)

21. Contested Elections. It may be that two or more of the candidates may each claim that they were rightfully elected. In this case the election is contested, and the Legislature provides the method of determining such contests where no method is provided in the Constitution. (Const. III. 47.) The General Assembly, in

the excellent Act of 1896, under which our elections are carried on, has provided that all such contests shall be heard before the Circuit Courts in the Counties and the Superior Court in Baltimore City. (Laws of 1896, ch. 202.)

22. Proportional Representation. Our electoral system is based on the idea that the majority, or, rather, that the plurality of votes should rule. This often works grave injustice. For instance, a county casts 10,000 votes and elects six delegates to the House of Delegates. A party which cast 5100 votes would elect all six of the delegates, and the other 4900 voters would be unrepresented. To avoid this injustice, it has been proposed that each party be represented in proportion to the number of votes it cast. According to this rule, in the case imagined above, one party would have four of the delegates and the other would have two. The minority would thus be represented. It is to be hoped that in some way this reform may be adopted in the future.

PART II. THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER XIX.

MARYLAND'S RELATION TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

1. General Relations; Reserved Rights. When Maryland became a part of the United States she gave up many of the rights of a sovereign State, some of which indeed she had never exercised. She does not carry the mails, issue money, provide for an army and navy, send ministers and ambassadors to foreign countries, nor do many other things which are done by independent States. However, any powers not delegated to the United States by the Federal Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are held to be reserved to the States or their people, and in especial the people of Maryland exercise the sole and exclusive right of regulating their internal government and policy. (Dec. of R. 3, 4; U. S. Const. Amend❜t X.)

2. National Protection to the State. The States have a republican form of government guaranteed them by the United States. This implies that they shall not choose any other form of government for themselves. Congress has the right to decide which of two contest

ing governments in a State is the lawful one, and to grant it protection. Congress too has the decision as to whether the State's form of government is republican, and, if it is not, to force a change. A State can neither form a non-republican government for itself, nor remain under one established by an exterior power. The United States also guarantees to protect the State against invasions. No application from the State for this protection is necessary. The foreign affairs are in the hands of the central government, and the State is not allowed to have an army or navy. Invasion too is a direct attack on the Nation.

In the third place, the United States protects the State against domestic violence on application of the Legislature, or of the Governor when the Legislature cannot be called together. Usually any disturbance in a State is suppressed by the local police or the sheriff and his posse. If they are not sufficient, the Governor is asked to call out the militia, and if they cannot restore order, the President is asked for the help of Federal soldiers. It is the duty of the State to enforce its laws, and hence the United States does not act, until the State finds its power insufficient. There is one case, however, when the President can act to suppress domestic violence without the request and even against the desire of the State officials. That is when the National laws are interfered with. Then he may at once use the force of the Nation to have them enforced. If the carrying of the mails and the transportation of articles of interstate commerce are interfered with, for example, the soldiers may be called out at once. This was done by Presi