3509.01 Absent voter's ballot procedures.
3509.01 Absent voter's ballot procedures.
(A) The board of elections of each county shall provide absent voter’s ballots for use at every primary and general election, or special election to be held on the day specified by division (E) of section 3501.01 of the Revised Code for the holding of a primary election, designated by the general assembly for the purpose of submitting constitutional amendments proposed by the general assembly to the voters of the state. Those ballots shall be the same size, shall be printed on the same kind of paper, and shall be in the same form as has been approved for use at the election for which those ballots are to be voted; except that, in counties using marking devices, ballot cards may be used for absent voter’s ballots, and those absent voters shall be instructed to record the vote in the manner provided on the ballot cards. In counties where punch card ballots are used, those absent voters shall be instructed to examine their marked ballot cards and to remove any chads that remain partially attached to them before returning them to election officials.
(B) The rotation of names of candidates and questions and issues shall be substantially complied with on absent voter’s ballots, within the limitation of time allotted. Those ballots shall be designated as “Absent Voter’s Ballots.” Except as otherwise provided in division (D) of this section, those ballots shall be printed and ready for use as follows:
(1) For overseas voters and absent uniformed services voters eligible to vote under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, Pub. L. No. 99-410, 100 Stat. 924, 42 U.S.C. 1973ff, et seq., as amended, ballots shall be printed and ready for use on the forty-fifth day before the day of the election.
(2) For all other voters who are applying to vote absent voter’s ballots, ballots shall be printed and ready for use on the thirty-fifth day before the day of the election.
(C) Absent voter’s ballots provided for use at a general or primary election, or special election to be held on the day specified by division (E) of section 3501.01 of the Revised Code for the holding of a primary election, designated by the general assembly for the purpose of submitting constitutional amendments proposed by the general assembly to the voters of the state, shall include only those questions, issues, and candidacies that have been lawfully ordered submitted to the electors voting at that election.
(D) If the laws governing the holding of a special election on a day other than the day on which a primary or general election is held make it impossible for absent voter’s ballots to be printed and ready for use by the deadlines established in division (B) of this section, absent voter’s ballots for those special elections shall be ready for use as many days before the day of the election as reasonably possible under the laws governing the holding of that special election.
(E) A copy of the absent voter’s ballots shall be forwarded by the director of the board in each county to the secretary of state at least twenty-five days before the election.
(F) As used in this section, “chad” and “punch card ballot” have the same meanings as in section 3506.16 of the Revised Code.
Amended by 128th General Assembly File No. 29, HB 48, § 1, eff. 7/2/2010.
Effective Date: 08-28-2001