Ohio Revised Code
Chapter 3506 | Voting and Tabulating Equipment
Section 3506.10 | Requirements for Approval or Certification of Voting Machines.

Effective: May 7, 2004
Latest Legislation: House Bill 262 - 125th General Assembly
No voting machine shall be approved by the board of voting machine examiners or certified by the secretary of state, or be purchased, rented, or otherwise acquired, or used, except when specifically allowed for experimental use, as provided in section 3506.04 of the Revised Code, unless it fulfills the following requirements:
(A) It shall permit and require voting in absolute secrecy, and shall be so constructed that no person can see or know for whom any other elector has voted or is voting, except an elector who is assisting a voter as prescribed by section 3505.24 of the Revised Code.
(B) It shall permit each elector to vote at any election for all persons and offices for whom and for which the elector is lawfully entitled to vote, whether or not the name of any such person appears on a ballot label as a candidate; to vote for as many persons for an office as the elector is entitled to vote for; and to vote for or against any question upon which the elector is entitled to vote.
(C) It shall preclude each elector from voting for any candidate or upon any question for whom or upon which the elector is not entitled to vote, from voting for more persons for any office than the elector is entitled to vote for, and from voting for any candidates for the same office or upon any question more than once.
(D) It shall permit each voter to deposit, write in, or affix, upon devices provided for that purpose, ballots containing the names of persons for whom the voter desires to vote, whose names do not appear upon the voting machine. Those devices shall be susceptible of identification as to party affiliations when used at a primary election.
(E) It shall permit each elector to change the elector's vote for any candidate or upon any question appearing upon the ballot labels, up to the time the elector starts to register the elector's vote.
(F) It shall permit each elector, at all presidential elections, by one device to vote for candidates of one party for president, vice-president, and presidential electors.
(G) It shall be capable of adjustment by election officers so as to permit each elector, at a primary election, to vote only for the candidates of the party with which the elector has declared the elector's affiliation and shall preclude the elector from voting for any candidate seeking nomination by any other political party; and to vote for the candidates for nonpartisan nomination or election.
(H) It shall have separate voting devices for candidates and questions, which shall be arranged in separate rows or columns. It shall be so arranged that one or more adjacent rows or columns may be assigned to the candidates of each political party at primary elections.
(I) It shall have a counter, or other device, the register of which is visible from the outside of the machine, and which will show at any time during the voting the total number of electors who have voted; and also a protective counter, or other device, the register of which cannot be reset, which will record the cumulative total number of movements of the internal counters.
(J) It shall be provided with locks and seals by the use of which, immediately after the polls are closed or the operation of the machine for an election is completed, no further changes to the internal counters can be allowed.
(K) It shall have the capacity to contain the names of candidates constituting the tickets of at least five political parties, and independent groups and such number of questions not exceeding fifteen as the secretary of state shall specify.
(L) It shall be durably constructed of material of good quality in a neat and workerlike manner, and in form that shall make it safely transportable.
(M) It shall be so constructed that a voter may readily learn the method of operating it, may expeditiously cast a vote for all candidates of the voter's choice, and when operated properly shall register and record correctly and accurately every vote cast.
(N) It shall be provided with a screen, hood, or curtain, which will conceal the voter while voting. During the voting, it shall preclude every person from seeing or knowing the number of votes registered for any candidate or question and from tampering with any of the internal counters.
(O) It shall not provide to a voter any type of receipt or voter confirmation that the voter legally may retain after leaving the polling place.
(P) On and after the first federal election that occurs after January 1, 2006, unless required sooner by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, if the voting machine is a direct recording electronic voting machine, it shall include a voter verified paper audit trail.
Before any voting machine is purchased, rented, or otherwise acquired, or used, the person or corporation owning or manufacturing that machine or having the legal right to control the use of that machine shall give an adequate guarantee in writing and post a bond in an amount sufficient to cover the cost of any recount or new election resulting from or directly related to the use or malfunction of the equipment, accompanied by satisfactory surety, all as determined by the secretary of state, with the board of county commissioners, guaranteeing and securing that those machines have been and continue to be certified by the secretary of state in accordance with section 3506.05 of the Revised Code, comply fully with the requirements of this section, and will correctly, accurately, and continuously register and record every vote cast, and further guaranteeing those machines against defects in workership and materials for a period of five years from the date of their acquisition.