Voting In Ohio

To be eligible to vote in Ohio, you must be:

• A citizen of the United States
• At least 18 years old on or before the day of the general election
• A resident of Ohio for at least 30 days immediately before the election: February 3, 2008 for the Primary election
• Not be incarcerated (in prison) for a felony conviction under the laws of the United States, this state or any other state of the United States
• Not been declared incompetent for voting purposes by a probate court

By law, your residence is the place in which your habitation is fixed and to which, whenever you are absent, you have the intention to return. If you continuously reside outside of Ohio for a period of four years or more, you are not a resident of this state for voter registration purposes, except if you are absent from Ohio because of federal or state government employment, including military service. However, you may still be eligible to vote for federal offices under federal law. If you are a student you can vote from your school address if your school address qualifies as your voting residence, as discussed above. Otherwise, if you are registered in your home community, you must vote in that community.

When registering to vote, you are required to provide either an Ohio driver's license, state ID or Social Security number, if you have one.

All voters must show an ID at the polls. You may show one of the following:

• Ohio driver's license or ID card (even if it shows a previous address)
• Military identification
• Bank statement
• Current Utility bill
• Current Paycheck
• Any current government-issued document showing your current address

In Ohio, you must be registered 30 days prior to the election date.

If you register to vote by mail, your properly completed and signed registration application must be mailed to the county board of elections or the Secretary of State's office and must be postmarked no later than the 30th day before the first election in which you want to vote.

If you do not mail your registration application directly to election officials, you may deliver it to a public library, high school or vocational school, Bureau of Motor Vehicles deputy registrar, county treasurer's office or designated agency no later than the registration deadline for the first election in which you want to vote.

To verify your voter registration status, please use your state's voter verification tool. For additional information, please contact your elections office or board of elections for your county, city or state.

A qualified Ohio voter does not have to state a reason to vote by an absentee ballot, and a voter with only a Social Security number or an Ohio license number as identification can cast a regular ballot. However, the ballot must be applied for in writing. If you are properly registered to vote, you submit your written request to the board of elections of the county in which your voting residence is located. Your request must contain certain information (discussed below) and your original signature. You may, but are not required to, use the application form prescribed by the Ohio Secretary of State.

You do not need to submit an official absentee ballot application. You need to request an absentee ballot by written request, and it must contain all of the following information:

• Your date of birth
• Your name
• Your signature
• The address at which you are registered to vote and your date of birth
• A statement identifying the election for which absent voter's ballots are requested
• A statement that you are a qualified elector
• If you want the ballots to be mailed, the address to which you want them mailed

Absentee voting begins 35 days before primary and general elections and ends (with some exceptions listed below) the day before the election. Once absentee ballots are available for voting, you may either vote in person at the county board of elections office, or receive and return the absentee ballot via U.S. Mail, or overnight delivery services such as FedEx or UPS.

To receive your absentee ballot:

• By mail: Unless you are a member of the U.S. armed forces, you must mail your properly completed absentee ballot application bearing your original signature to the board of elections of the county where your voting residence is located. The board must receive your request by noon on the Saturday before the election. However, you should submit your request as far in advance of the election as possible.
  
  
• By fax: If you are a member of the U.S. armed forces or organized state militia, you may fax your absentee ballot request to the board of elections in which your voting residence is located. The board must receive your request by noon on the Saturday before the election. You may request that the board fax your ballot to you, but you must return your marked ballot by mail.
• In person: You may go to the county board of elections office during regular business hours after absentee ballots are available for voting, but no later than the day before the election, and request, receive and immediately vote your ballot at the board office.
  
• If you are hospitalized on election day, regardless of where you are hospitalized, you must submit a properly completed and signed request to the board of elections of the county where your voting residence is located by 3:00 pm on Election Day. To be eligible under this provision, you must be confined in a hospital because of an unforeseeable medical emergency. Your application must specify where, why and when you came to be hospitalized. You may include in your absentee ballot application a request that your county board of elections give your unmarked ballot to a designated relative. A "relative" includes: your spouse, father, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, son, daughter, adopted parent, adopted child, stepparent, stepchild, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece. Your relative would then deliver the ballot to you in the hospital and return it to the board office after you have voted it. If you are hospitalized in the same county where you are registered to vote, two representatives of the board of elections can deliver the ballot to you and return it to the board office.

For your absentee ballot to be counted, it must be received as follows:

• If cast from anywhere in the United States, whether returned in person or by mail, your ballot must be received by your county board of elections by 7:30 pm on Election Day.
• If properly returned from out-of-country, your ballot must be received by your county board of elections not later than the 10th day after the election.

Overseas citizens and U.S. military personnel can find information on how to register to vote and request an absentee ballot at the Overseas Vote Foundation.

Once absentee ballots are available for voting, an absentee voter may vote early in person at the county board of elections office. Ballots are usually available 35 days before an election. You may vote at the elections office up through the day before the election during regular business hours.

The next statewide election will be held Tuesday, November 3, 2009 (Monday, October 5, 2009: Registration Deadline). Please check with your local board of elections office for information on local elections.

In order to be a poll worker in Ohio:

• You must be registered to vote in Ohio
• You will be entitled to compensation
• You must be at least 18 years of age
• You must be a resident of the county and state for the 30 days prior to the election
• You must complete required training
• Students 17 years old must be a country resident and enrolled in senior year of high school to be appointed

To sign up, contact your local board of elections.

The polls will be open from 6:30 am - 7:30 pm.

Employers are prohibited from firing an employee who takes a reasonable amount of time to vote. Salaried employees should be elegible for paid time off to vote. Specifications of time vary by employer.

You can find your polling place by utilizing VOTE411's poll locator tool. Some states and local jurisdictions provide their own poll locators. You can confirm your voting location by selecting from the following local resources: Ohio State Poll Locator Tool, Hamilton County,

You must vote by provisional ballot if:

• Your name is not in the poll book
• You do not present appropriate ID
• You are challenged and do not provide required documentation
• You request an absentee ballot and either did not receive it or did not return it

There is no provision for a partial ballot. ID must show current name and current address (except Ohio driver’s license or state ID may show former address.) Provisional ballots are usually counted unless they were cast in the wrong precinct. Voters without acceptable ID need only supply the last 4 digits of their Social Security number and do not need to supply further information. Voters without either acceptable ID or a Social Security number can sign an affirmation, and still cast a successful provisional ballot. Voters who can’t or won’t supply ID, last 4 digits of Social Security number, or a signed affirmation must go personally to the Board of Elections within 10 days of the election and supply one of these missing items.

Registered voters who may have ID problems can avoid voting a provisional ballot at the polls if they vote absentee and supply the last 4 digits of their Social Security number. For absentee application information, see section on Absentee Ballot process.

The voting systems used in Ohio are optical scan and DRE.

Optical Scan: With this system, you will receive a card or sheet of paper, which you take over to a private table or booth. The card has the names of the various candidates and ballot measures printed on it. With a pen or pencil you fill in a little box or circle or the space between two arrows. When you are finished filling out all the cards, you may bring the cards over to a ballot box, where poll workers will show you how to put the cards in the box. Or in some places, you may feed the completed cards or papers into a computer device that checks your card or paper right there at the polling place to make sure you have voted the way you want to and counts the votes.

Direct Recording Electronic (DRE): This is the newest kind of system in use in the U.S. All the information about who and what you are voting for is on an electronic screen like a TV or computer screen.

There are many variations of DREs because lots of companies are inventing new ones, and many cities, counties and states are trying them out. Usually, after you have signed in, the poll workers will give you a card that you slide into a device to start your voting session.

Some of these devices will show all of the candidates and ballot choices on one big screen. Often, with these big screen devices you push a button next to the name of the candidate you want to vote for (or yes or no on a ballot measure). On other DREs, the screen is set up to show “pages.” On each screen or page, there will probably be one thing to vote on. For example, on one screen or page, you might vote for president. Then you might move to the next page to vote for senator. Often these small-screen devices have a “touch screen,” where you touch the screen next to the name of the person you want to vote for. Other devices have a key pad. And some have a keyboard, so you can write in the name of someone you want to vote for.

You let the system know you are finished voting by pushing a button, touching the screen or entering something on a keypad.

Information on local, state and federal candidates and ballot measures is available here.

Ohio polling places should provide touch screen voting machines and have audio adaptations for assisting the blind. There are also adaptations for voters with lack of muscle control. If you have a disability you may also have assistance by two election officials (of different political parties) or by the person of your choice (except employer or union agent). Poll workers are urged to accommodate voters with disabilities in any way they can. If the polling place is not accessible for you, when possible you may vote curbside. In these cases, two poll workers will take a voting device to the you.

For information on federal campaign contributions, please visit Open Secrets.

For information on state campaign contributions, please visit your state's resource.

Poll workers may not know the rules under the new law (House Bill 3) that went into effect June 1, 2006. This is especially true for the rules pertaining to who gets a regular or provisional ballot and for how to assist voters with disabilities. If there is a disagreement, you should insist they look up the answer in the Poll Worker Manual.