HARRY HUGHES, Governor                                     2103

contain the names of persons residing only in one county or only
in the City of Baltimore. Each signer shall append to his
signature his residence, the date of signing and the name of the
county or city where he is registered as a voter, and immediately
below the signature of any signer there shall be either printed
or typed the name of the signer. Every paper shall be
accompanied by an affidavit or affidavits which state that the
signers, to the best knowledge and belief of the affiant or
affiants, are registered voters of the county or city as set
forth in the petition and that the affiant or affiants witnessed
the application of each signature to the paper on the date noted
opposite his signature. THE AFFIANT OR AFFIANTS SHALL BE 18
YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER. The affidavits shall be signed under
penalty of perjury.

(d) All papers containing signatures which are appended to
a petition for formation of a political party [which] shall BE
SORTED BY COUNTY AND be filed with the State Administrative Board
of Election Laws[,]. ALL PETITION PAPERS shall be submitted by
the State Administrative Board of Election Laws to the board for
the county or the City of Baltimore in which the signers on the
paper are alleged to reside, within fifteen days after the
receipt of the petition and appended papers by the State
Administrative Board of Election Laws. It shall be the duty of
the several boards in the jurisdiction in which the signers are
alleged to be registered voters to verify the number of
legitimate signatures of persons who are registered voters. On
any petition submitted to the board any question concerning the
invalidity of the signature of any person on the petition shall
affect that signature only and shall not affect or impair any
other portion of the petition. Following the verification, a
duly authorized employee of the board shall endorse on each paper
the number of signatures verified by the employee and shall
endorse and sign the paper. For the purpose of the endorsement,
each paper shall contain a blank space for the endorsement.
After verification and endorsement as herein required, which
shall be completed within fifteen days after receipt of the
papers by the board, all papers delivered to the board pursuant
to this subsection shall be mailed or returned to the State
Administrative Board of Election Laws. If the total required
number of signatures is properly appended to the petition for
formation of a political party, and the petition is otherwise in
proper form and meets all of the requirements of this section,
the party shall be promptly notified. Upon the filing of an
interim constitution and bylaws with the State Administrative
Board of Election Laws in the manner and within the time
hereinafter provided, the political party designated in the
petition shall be considered a political party for the purposes
of this article.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect July 1, 1985.

Approved May 21, 1985.