83 2/Mary land Manual

SEC. 2.²⁰³ It shall be the duty of the General Assem-
bly 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 Peo-
ple in regard to calling a Convention for altering this
Constitution; and if a majority of voters at such elec-
tion or elections shall vote for a Convention, the Gener-
al Assembly, at its next session, shall provide by Law
for the assembling of such convention, and for the elec-
tion of Delegates thereto. Each County, and Legislative
District of the City of Baltimore, shall have in such
Convention a number of Delegates equal to its repre-
sentation in both Houses at the time at which the Con-
vention 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 vot-
ers voting thereon.

ARTICLE XV.

MISCELLANEOUS.

SECTION I.²⁰⁴ 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 fo- 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.

Article XIV

SEC. 2.²⁰⁵ 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 enti-
tled to succeed to the office shall temporarily fill the
elective office. If the conviction becomes final, after ju-
dicial review or otherwise, such elected official shall be
removed from the elective office by operation of Law
and the office shall be deemed vacant. If the conviction
of the elected official is reversed or overturned, the
elected official 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 suspend-
ed or removed, and all pay and benefits shall be re-
stored.

SEC. 3.²⁰⁶ 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. 4.²⁰⁷ Vacant.

SEC. 5.²⁰⁸ Except as the Constitution provides other-
wise for any office, the General Assembly may provide
by law for a person to act in place of any elected or
appointed officer of the State who is unavailable to per-
form the duties of his office because he has become un-
able or is or will be absent.

SEC. 6.²⁰⁹ Vacant.

SEC. 7.²¹⁰ All general elections in this State shall be
held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the
month of Nov., in the year in which they shall occur.