Section 3503.151 | Database maintenance.
(A) The secretary of state, through the office of data analytics and archives, and the boards of elections shall maintain the accuracy of the statewide voter registration database in accordance with this section.
(B)(1) State agencies, including, but not limited to, the department of health, the bureau of motor vehicles, the department of job and family services, the department of medicaid, and the department of rehabilitation and corrections, shall provide any information and data to the secretary of state that is collected in the course of normal business and that is necessary to register to vote, to update an elector's registration, or to maintain the statewide voter registration database, except where prohibited by federal law or regulation. The department of health, the bureau of motor vehicles, the department of job and family services, the department of medicaid, and the department of rehabilitation and corrections shall provide that information and data to the secretary of state not later than the last day of each month. The secretary of state shall ensure that any information or data provided to the secretary of state that is confidential in the possession of the entity providing the data remains confidential while in the possession of the secretary of state. No public office, and no public official or employee, shall sell that information or data or use that information or data for profit.
(2) The secretary of state shall adopt rules under Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that establish, by mutual agreement with the bureau of motor vehicles, the content and format of the information and data the bureau of motor vehicles shall provide to the secretary of state under division (B)(1) of this section and the frequency with which the bureau shall provide that information and data.
(C)(1) The secretary of state shall enter into agreements to share information or data that is in the possession of the secretary of state with other states or groups of states, as the secretary of state considers necessary, in order to maintain the statewide voter registration database. Except as otherwise provided in division (C)(2) of this section, the secretary of state shall ensure that any information or data provided to the secretary of state that is confidential in the possession of the state providing the data remains confidential while in the possession of the secretary of state.
(2) The secretary of state may provide such otherwise confidential information or data to persons or organizations that are engaging in legitimate governmental purposes related to the maintenance of the statewide voter registration database. The secretary of state shall adopt rules pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code identifying the persons or organizations who may receive that information or data. The secretary of state shall not share that information or data with a person or organization not identified in those rules. The secretary of state shall ensure that a person or organization that receives confidential information or data under this division keeps the information or data confidential in the person's or organization's possession by, at a minimum, entering into a confidentiality agreement with the person or organization. Any confidentiality agreement entered into under this division shall include a requirement that the person or organization submit to the jurisdiction of this state in the event that the person or organization breaches the agreement.
(3) No person or entity that receives information or data under division (C) of this section shall sell the information or data or use the information or data for profit.
(D) The secretary of state shall regularly transmit to the boards of elections, to the extent permitted by state and federal law, the information and data the secretary of state receives under divisions (B) and (C) of this section that is necessary to do the following, in order to ensure that the accuracy of the statewide voter registration database is maintained on a regular basis in accordance with applicable state and federal law:
(1) Require the boards of elections to maintain the database in a manner that ensures that the name of each registered elector appears in the database, that only individuals who are not registered or eligible to vote are removed from the database, and that duplicate registrations are eliminated from the database;
(2) Require the boards of elections to make a reasonable effort to remove individuals who are not eligible to vote from the database;
(3) Establish safeguards to ensure that eligible electors are not removed in error from the database.
(E)(1) The secretary of state shall adopt rules under Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to establish a uniform method for addressing instances in which records contained in the statewide voter registration database do not conform with records maintained by an agency, state, or group of states described in division (B) or (C) of this section. That method shall prohibit an elector's voter registration from being canceled on the sole basis that the information in the registration record does not conform to records maintained by such an agency.
(2) Information provided under division (B) or (C) of this section for maintenance of the statewide voter registration database shall not be used to update the name or address of a registered elector. The name or address of a registered elector shall only be updated as a result of the elector's actions in filing a notice of change of name, change of address, or both.
(3) A board of elections shall contact a registered elector pursuant to the rules adopted under division (E)(1) of this section to verify the accuracy of the information in the statewide voter registration database regarding that elector if that information does not conform with information provided under division (B) or (C) of this section and the discrepancy would affect the elector's eligibility to cast a regular ballot.
Last updated September 12, 2023 at 9:11 AM
Available Versions of this Section
- October 3, 2023 – Enacted by House Bill 33 - 135th General Assembly [ View October 3, 2023 Version ]