Article III
Delegates, and shall be styled the General Assem-
bly of Maryland
SEC. 2." The membership of the Senate shall
consist of forty seven (47) Senators. The member-
ship of the House of Delegates shall consist of
one hundred forty-one (141) Delegates
SEC. 3.^ The State shall be divided by law
into legislative districts for the election of
members of the Senate and the House of
Delegates Each legislative distnct shall contain
one (1) Senator and three (3) Delegates Nothing
herein shall prohibit the subdivision of any one or
more of the legislative distncts for the purpose of
electing members of the House of Delegates into
three (3) single-member delegate distncts or one
(1) single-member delegate distnct and one (1)
multi-member delegate distnct
SEC. 4.^ Each legislative distnct shall consist
of adJOining terntory, be compact in form, and of
substantially equal population Due regard shall
be given to natural boundanes and the bound-
anes of political subdivisions
SEC. 5/* Following each decennial census of
the United States and after public heanngs, the
Governor shall prepare a plan setting forth the
boundanes of the legislative distncts for electing
of the members of the Senate and the House of
Delegates
The Governor shall present the plan to the
President of the Senate and Speaker of the House
of Delegates who shall introduce the Governor's
plan as a joint resolution to the General Assem-
bly, not later than the first day of its regular ses-
sion in the second year following every census,
and the Governor may call a special session for
the presentation of his plan pnor to the regular
session The plan shall conform to Sections 2, 3
and 4 of this Article Following each decennial
census the General Assembly may by joint reso-
lution adopt a plan setting forth the boundanes
of the legislative distncts for the election of
members of the Senate and the House of
Delegates, which plan shall conform to Sections
2, 3 and 4 of this Article If a plan has been
" Thus amended by Chapter 363, Acts of 1972, ratified No
vernber 7,1972
" Thus amended by Chapter 363, Acts of 1972, ratified No-
vember 7,1972
" Thus amended by Chapter 363, Acts of 1972, ratified No-
vember 7,1972
*' Thus amended by Chapter 681, Acts of 1977, ratified
November 7,1978

Constitution of Maryland/&03
adopted by the General Assembly by the 45th
day after the opening of the regular session of the
General Assembly in the second year following
every census, the plan adopted by the General
Assembly shall become law If no plan has been
adopted by the General Assembly for these
purposes by the 45th day after the opening of the
regular session of the General Assembly in the
second year following every census, the Gover-
nor's plan presented to the General Assembly
shall become law
Upon petition of any registered voter, the
Court of Appeals shall have onginal junsdiction
to review the legislative distncting of the State
and may grant appropnate relief, if it finds that
the distncting of the State is not consistent with
requirements of either the Constitution of the
United States of Amenca, or the Constitution of
Maryland
SEC. 6" A member of the General Assembly
shall be elected by the registered voters of the
legislative or delegate distnct from which he seeks
election, to serve for a term of four years begin-
ning on the second Wednesday of January follow-
ing his election
SEC. 7.^ The election for Senators and
Delegates shall take place on the Tuesday next,
after the first Monday in the month of Novem-
ber, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, and in ev-
ery fourth year thereafter
SEC. 8.^ Vacant
SEC. 9." A person is eligible to serve as a
Senator or Delegate, who on the date of his elec-
tion, (1) is a citizen of the State of Maryland, (2)
has resided therein for at least one year next pre-
ceding that date, and (3) if the distnct which he
has been chosen to represent has been established
for at least six months pnor to the date of his
election, has resided in that distnct for six
months next preceding that date
If the distnct which the person has been
chosen to represent has been established less than
six months pnor to the date of his election,
" Thus amended by Chapter 681, Acts of 1977, ratified No-
vember 7,1978
^ Thus amended by Chapter 99, Acts of 1956, ratified Novem-
ber 6,1956
"Repealed by Chapter 99, Acts of 1956, ratified November 6,
1956
" Thus amended by Chapter 681, Acts of 1977, ratified No-
vember 7,1978