Article XIV

sions of limited duration" shall refer to the title and
section of the other article of the Constitution of which
it, temporarily, is a part.

SEC. 2.¹⁸⁶ It shall be the duty of the General As-
sembly to provide by Law for taking, at the general
election to be held in the year nineteen hundred and
seventy, and every twenty years thereafter, the sense of
the People in regard to calling a Convention for altering
this Constitution; and if a majority of voters at such
election or elections shall vote for a Convention, the
General Assembly, at its next session, shall provide by
Law for the assembling of such convention, and for the
election of Delegates thereto. Each County, and Legis-
lative District of the City of Baltimore, shall have in
such Convention a number of Delegates equal to its
representation in both Houses at the time at which the
Convention is called. But any Constitution, or change,
or amendment of the existing Constitution, which may
be adopted by such Convention, shall be submitted to
the voters of this State, and shall have no effect unless
the same shall have been adopted by a majority of the
voters voting thereon.

ARTICLE XV.
MISCELLANEOUS.

SECTION I.¹⁸⁷ Every person holding any office cre-
ated by, or existing under the Constitution, or Laws of
the State, or holding any appointment under any Court
of this State, whose pay, or compensation is derived
from fees, or moneys coming into his hands for the dis-
charge of his official duties, or, in any way, growing out
of, or connected with his office, shall keep a book in
which shall be entered every sum, or sums of money,
received by him, or on his account, as a payment or
compensation for his performance of official duties, a
copy of which entries in said book, verified by the oath
of the officer, by whom it is directed to be kept, shall
be returned yearly to the Comptroller of the State for
his inspection, and that of the General Assembly of the
State, to which the Comptroller shall, at each regular
session thereof, make a report showing what officers
have complied with this Section; and each of the said
officers, when the amount received by him for the year
shall exceed the sum which he is by Law entitled to re-
tain, as his salary or compensation for the discharge of
his duties, and for the expenses of his office, shall yearly
pay over to the Treasurer of the State the amount of
such excess, subject to such disposition thereof as the
General Assembly may direct; if any of such officers
shall fail to comply with the requisitions of this section
for the period of thirty days after the expiration of each
and every year of his office, such officer shall be
deemed to have vacated his office, and the Governor
shall declare the same vacant, and the vacancy therein
shall be filled as in the case of vacancy for any other
cause, and such officer shall be subject to suit by the
State for the amount that ought to be paid into the
Treasury.

Constitution of Maryland/701

SEC. 2.¹⁸⁸ Any elected official of the State, or of a
county or of a municipal corporation who during his
term of office is convicted of or enters a plea of nolo
contenders to any crime which is a felony, or which is a
misdemeanor related to his public duties and responsi-
bilities and involves moral turpitude for which the pen-
alty may be incarceration in any penal institution, shall
be suspended by operation of law without pay or bene-
fits from the elective office. During and for the period
of suspension of the elected official, the appropriate
governing body and/or official authorized by law to fill
any vacancy in the elective office shall appoint a person
to temporarily fill the elective office, provided that if the
elective office is one for which automatic succession is
provided by law, then in such event the person entitled
to succeed to the office shall temporarily fill the elective
office. If the conviction becomes final, after judicial re-
view or otherwise, such elected official shall be removed
from the elective office by operation of Law and the of-
fice shall be deemed vacant. If the conviction of the
elected official is reversed or overturned, the elected of-
ficial shall be reinstated by operation of Law to the
elective office for the remainder, if any, of the elective
term of office during which he was so suspended or re-
moved, and all pay and benefits shall be restored.

SEC. 3.¹⁸⁹ No person who is a member of an organi-
zation that advocates the overthrow of the Government
of the United States or of the State of Maryland
through force or violence shall be eligible to hold any
office, be it elective or appointive, or any other position
of profit or trust in the Government of or in the admin-
istration of the business of this State or of any county,
municipality or other political subdivision of this State.

SEC.4.¹⁹⁰ Vacant.
SEC.5.¹⁹¹ Vacant.
SEC.6.¹⁹² Vacant.

SEC. 7.¹⁹³ All general elections in this State shall be
held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the
month of November, in the year in which they shall oc-
cur.

SEC. 8.¹⁹⁴ Except as the Constitution provides oth-
erwise for any office, the General Assembly may pro-
vide by law for a person to act in place of any elected
or appointed officer of the State who is unavailable to
perform the duties of his office because he has become
unable or is or will be absent.