Elkton                                         2131

(d)   VOTER DYING BEFORE ELECTION DAY.—Whenever any
board shall determine from proof of investigation that any person who
has marked and transmitted or deposited in person with the board an
absentee ballot, whether under act of Congress or the provisions of this
subtitle, has died before election day, said board shall not count the ballot
of the said deceased voter, but it shall be preserved by the board for six
months and may then be destroyed, unless prior to that time the board is
ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction to keep the same for any
longer period. If at or prior to the time of such counting and canvassing
the board shall not have determined that the absentee resident who marked
a ballot had died before election day, said ballot shall be counted, and
the fact that said absentee resident may later be shown to have been ac-
tually dead on election day shall not invalidate said ballot or said election.

(e)   PLACING BALLOT IN BALLOT BOX AND ENTRY IN REG-
ISTRY; MORE THAN ONE BALLOT IN ENVELOPE; MARKING
BALLOTS.—If the board determines that the provisions for filling out
and signing the oath on the outside of the ballot envelope have been sub-
stantially complied with and that the person signing the voter's oath is
entitled to vote under this subtitle in any precinct of their respective town,
as the case may be, and has not already voted therein on election day,
they shall open the ballot envelope and remove the ballot therefrom and
place it in a ballot box or ballot boxes prepared for that purpose. When
any ballot envelope is opened, the board shall enter in the appropriate
register the fact that the voter whose name appears thereon has voted,
using the initials "A.B." to indicate the vote has been by absentee ballot.
If there be more than one ballot in the ballot envelope, all shall be re-
jected. Absentee ballots may be marked by any kind of pencil or ink.

(f)   MORE THAN ONE BALLOT RECEIVED FROM SAME PER-
SON.—If any board receives from the same person prior to the closing
of the polls on election day more than one absentee ballot, it shall count,
certify and canvass only the absentee ballot contained in the ballot en-
velope on which the voter's oath was first executed, and if the oath on
two or more of the ballot envelopes containing absentee ballots are dated
the same or if both are undated, none of the ballots received from such
person shall be counted.

19A-10. CONTESTS AND APPEALS.

Contests concerning registration, voting or the validity of any ballot
under this subtitle shall be decided by the board having jurisdiction of
the matter. No registration shall be denied and no ballot rejected except
by the unanimous vote of the entire board. Any candidate or absentee
voter aggrieved by any decision or action of such board shall have the
right of appeal to the circuit court for Cecil County, to review such deci-
sion or action, and jurisdiction to hear and determine such appeals is
hereby conferred upon said court. Such appeals shall be taken by way of
petition filed with the appropriate court within five days from the date
of the completion of the official canvass by any board of all the votes cast
at any election and shall be heard de novo and without a jury by said
court as soon as possible. There shall be a further right of appeal to the
Court of Appeals, provided such appeal shall be taken within forty-eight
hours from the entry of the decision of the lower court complained of,
and all such appeals shall be heard and decided on the original papers,
including a typewritten transcript of the testimony taken in such cases,
by the Court of Appeals, as soon as possible after the same have been