§ C-18.1. Registration of voters.

A.

In order to qualify as a voter in the Town of Cheverly a person shall be a citizen of the United States; shall have resided in the Town of Cheverly for at least thirty (30) days prior to the day of any general or special election; shall be eighteen (18) years old on or before the day of any general or special election; and shall not have been convicted of a disqualifying crime or be under the guardianship for mental disability, as provided in Md. C. A. Art. 33, Section 3-4(c) and (d).

B.

Registration may be made by becoming a registered voter of Prince George's County or by the following procedures. Persons qualified to vote in the Town of Cheverly elections may register to vote in person or by mail. There shall be no registration of voters by the town board of election supervisors during the period beginning thirty (30) days prior to or fifteen (15) days after any election. Registration in person may be completed on such dates and at such special registration sites as may be established by the Board of Election Supervisors. The dates and sites of such special registrations shall be generally published to town residents at least five (5) days prior to such dates. To register by mail, residents may call the town office during normal business hours and request that a registration application be sent, or request in person the registration application at the town office. The individual requesting such registration application shall give the clerk his or her name, address and telephone number. When the completed mail registration application is returned to the town office, the date received shall be noted thereon and a notice of receipt shall be sent by unforwardable mail within three (3) business days. The information on the returned application, when properly certified by the board, shall be transferred to a permanent registration card. The voter then shall, when he appears to vote at any general or special election day, affix his signature to the permanent registration card, thus completing his registration. Special arrangements to secure the signature of a disabled applicant by other means may be made by the board. The original mail registration application shall be preserved by the board until the person has signed the permanent registration card, but no longer than five (5) calendar years from the date received.

C.

All registrations shall be permanent. However, if a registered voter for town elections has not voted at least once at a general or special election in the town, county or state, within the preceding five (5) calendar years (such number of years to be determined by counting back from December 31 of any given year), if the voter has been convicted of a disqualifying crime or is under guardianship for mental disability, if the voter is no longer a resident of the Town of Cheverly, or has died, it shall be the duty of the Board of Election Supervisors, during the month of January of each year, to cause the registration of such voter for town elections to be cancelled and stricken from the registration books of the town provided, however, that the registration of any person shall not be cancelled during his or her service in the armed forces of the United States which service causes such person to reside outside of Cheverly; and provided further, that such service in the armed forces that causes such person to reside outside of Cheverly shall not be taken into account for the purposes of cancelling the registration of such person for failure to vote within the previous five (5) calendar years. A notice of such cancellation and the reason(s) therefor shall be sent to the address of record of the voter, notifying said voter to show cause within fourteen (14) days from the date of such notice why his/her name should not be removed from the registry.

D.

However, if a person is a registered voter of Prince George's County it shall be sufficient for purposes of complying with the provisions of C-18.1C that the Board of Elections Supervisors for Prince George's County conforms to the laws and regulations governing such board regarding the cancelling or striking of names from the registration records. This cancelling or striking shall be sufficient to strike such names from the registration records of the Town of Cheverly.

E.

All registered voters of Prince George's County who meet the qualifications stated in subsection (A) of this section and are so registered before the period beginning thirty (30) days prior to any town election are registered voters for that town election.

(Added by Ord. No. 1-76; Amended by Res. No. 86-2)