Effective: September 13, 2022
Latest Legislation: House Bill 140 - 134th General Assembly
(A) On the questions and issues ballot shall be printed all questions and issues to be submitted at any one election together with the percentage of affirmative votes necessary for passage as required by law. Such ballot shall have printed across the top thereof, and below the stubs, "Official Questions and Issues Ballot."
(B)(1) Questions and issues shall be grouped together on the ballot from top to bottom as provided in division (B)(1) of this section, except as otherwise provided in division (B)(2) of this section. State questions and issues shall always appear as the top group of questions and issues. In calendar year 1997, the following questions and issues shall be grouped together on the ballot, in the following order from top to bottom, after the state questions and issues:
(a) County questions and issues;
(b) Municipal questions and issues;
(c) Township questions and issues;
(d) School or other district questions and issues.
In each succeeding calendar year after 1997, each group of questions and issues described in division (B)(1)(a) to (d) of this section shall be moved down one place on the ballot except that the group that was last on the ballot during the immediately preceding calendar year shall appear at the top of the ballot after the state questions and issues. The rotation shall be performed only once each calendar year, beginning with the first election held during the calendar year. The rotation of groups of questions and issues shall be performed during each calendar year as required by division (B)(1) of this section, even if no questions and issues from any one or more such groups appear on the ballot at any particular election held during that calendar year.
(2) Questions and issues shall be grouped together on the ballot, from top to bottom, in the following order when it is not practicable to group them together as required by division (B)(1) of this section because of the type of voting machines used by the board of elections: state questions and issues, county questions and issues, municipal questions and issues, township questions and issues, and school or other district questions and issues. The particular order in which each of a group of state questions or issues is placed on the ballot shall be determined by, and certified to each board of elections by, the secretary of state.
(3) Failure of the board of elections to rotate questions and issues as required by division (B)(1) of this section does not affect the validity of the election at which the failure occurred, and is not grounds for contesting an election under section 3515.08 of the Revised Code.
(C) The particular order in which each of a group of county, municipal, township, or school district questions or issues is placed on the ballot shall be determined by the board providing the ballots.
(D) The printed matter pertaining to each question or issue on the ballot shall be enclosed at the top and bottom thereof by a heavy horizontal line across the width of the ballot. Immediately below such top line shall be printed a brief title descriptive of the question or issue below it, such as "Proposed Constitutional Amendment," "Proposed Bond Issue," "Proposed Annexation of Territory," "Proposed Increase in Tax Rate," or such other brief title as will be descriptive of the question or issue to which it pertains, together with a brief statement of the percentage of affirmative votes necessary for passage, such as "A sixty-five per cent affirmative vote is necessary for passage," "A majority vote is necessary for passage," or such other brief statement as will be descriptive of the percentage of affirmative votes required.
(E) The questions and issues ballot need not contain the full text of the proposal to be voted upon. A condensed text that will properly describe the question, issue, or an amendment proposed by other than the general assembly shall be used as prepared and certified by the secretary of state for state-wide questions or issues or by the board for local questions or issues. If other than a full text is used, the full text of the proposed question, issue, or amendment together with the percentage of affirmative votes necessary for passage as required by law shall be posted in each polling place in some spot that is easily accessible to the voters.
(F) Each question and issue appearing on the questions and issues ballot may be consecutively numbered. The question or issue determined to appear at the top of the ballot may be designated on the face thereof by the Arabic numeral "1" and all questions and issues placed below on the ballot shall be consecutively numbered. Such numeral shall be placed below the heavy top horizontal line enclosing such question or issue and to the left of the brief title thereof.
(G) No portion of a ballot question proposing to levy a property tax in excess of the ten-mill limitation under any section of the Revised Code, including the renewal or replacement of such a levy, may be printed in boldface type or in a font size that is different from the font size of other text in the ballot question. The prohibitions in division (G) of this section do not apply to printed matter either described in division (D) of this section related to such a ballot question or located in the area of the ballot in which votes are indicated for or against that question.
Last updated July 15, 2022 at 8:54 AM
Structure Ohio Revised Code
Chapter 3505 | General and Special Election Ballots
Section 3505.01 | Forms of Official Ballots.
Section 3505.02 | Former Names Printed in Parentheses on Ballot.
Section 3505.021 | Candidates With Identical Given Names and Surnames.
Section 3505.03 | Office Type Ballots.
Section 3505.04 | Nonpartisan Ballot.
Section 3505.06 | Questions and Issues Ballot.
Section 3505.061 | Ohio Ballot Board.
Section 3505.062 | Ohio Ballot Board Duties.
Section 3505.063 | Proposed Constitutional Amendments - Official Explanation and Arguments.
Section 3505.07 | Separate Ballots for Candidates, Question, or Issue.
Section 3505.071 | Ballots in Joint County School Districts.
Section 3505.08 | Ballot Material - Stubs.
Section 3505.09 | Separate Ballots for Each Precinct and District.
Section 3505.10 | Presidential Ballot.
Section 3505.11 | Quantity of Ballots to Be Provided.
Section 3505.12 | Type Size and Voting Instructions.
Section 3505.13 | Contract for Printing Ballots.
Section 3505.14 | Printed Proofs of Ballot.
Section 3505.15 | Ballot Packaging.
Section 3505.16 | Ballot Boxes and Supplies Placement at Polling Place.
Section 3505.17 | Lost or Destroyed Ballots or Supplies.
Section 3505.18 | Procedure When Elector Entered Polling Place.
Section 3505.181 | Eligibility to Cast Provisional Ballot - Procedure.
Section 3505.182 | Provisional Ballot Affirmation - Verification.
Section 3505.183 | Testing and Counting of Provisional Ballots - Rejection.
Section 3505.20 | Challenge of Elector at Polling Place.
Section 3505.21 | Appointment of Challengers and Witnesses.
Section 3505.22 | Impersonating an Elector.
Section 3505.23 | Time Limit for Occupying Voting Compartment - Errors in Voting - Marking Ballot.
Section 3505.24 | Providing Assistance to Blind, Disabled or Illiterate Electors.
Section 3505.26 | Closing Polls Procedures.
Section 3505.27 | Counting and Tallying of Ballots.
Section 3505.28 | Rejection of Ballots.
Section 3505.29 | Precinct Election Officials Not to Separate or Leave Until Counting Completed.
Section 3505.30 | Summary Statement of Results.
Section 3505.31 | Sealing Ballots, Pollbooks, Poll Lists or Signature Pollbooks, Tally Sheets.
Section 3505.32 | Canvass of Election Returns.
Section 3505.33 | Declaration of Election Results - Tie Votes - Abstracts and Report of Votes.
Section 3505.331 | Audit of Election Results.
Section 3505.34 | Canvass of Abstracts of Votes for State Executive Offices by General Assembly.
Section 3505.35 | Canvass of Abstracts by Secretary of State.
Section 3505.36 | Canvass of Abstracts of Multi County Candidates and Issues.
Section 3505.38 | Certificates of Election.
Section 3505.39 | Meeting of State's Presidential Electors.
Section 3505.40 | Electoral Vote to Be Cast for Party Nominees.