3511.05 Identification envelope format and return.

(A) The director of the board of elections shall place armed service absent voter’s ballots sent by mail in an unsealed identification envelope, gummed ready for sealing. The director shall include with armed service absent voter’s ballots sent by facsimile machine an instruction sheet for preparing a gummed envelope in which the ballots shall be returned. The envelope for returning ballots sent by either means shall have printed or written on its face a form as follows:

“IDENTIFICATION ENVELOPE

Armed Service Absent Voter’s Ballots —

Election …..............................................................

(Day of week and date)

Information Concerning Voter

1. What is your full name? .....................................................

(Name must be printed)

2. What is the date of your birth? .....................................................

3. Are you a citizen of the United States? .........................................

4. Where were you born? .....................................................

5. If a naturalized citizen, when and in what court were you naturalized? ...............................

6. Are you serving in the armed forces of the United States, or are you the spouse of a person serving in the armed forces of the United States?

(Indicate which one) .....................................................

7. What was the date at the commencement of your service, or the date you left the state of Ohio to be with or near your service member spouse? ........................................

8. Did you reside in the state of Ohio at the time of the commencement of your service, or the time you left the state of Ohio to be with or near your service member spouse? ...........

If so: What street and street number?..............................................

What city or village?.....................................................

What township?.....................................................

What county?.....................................................

What is your present Ohio address? .....................................................

9. How long had you continuously resided in Ohio immediately preceding the commencement of your service, or immediately preceding the date you left the state of Ohio to be with or near your service member spouse? .....................................................

10. Will you be outside the United States on the day of the election? .....................

(Applicants who answer “yes” to this question must also check the appropriate box on the return envelope to indicate that they will be outside the United States.)

I hereby declare, under penalty of election falsification, that the answers to the questions above set out are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief, and that I am not claiming, for the purpose of voting, a voting residence in any other state.

WHOEVER COMMITS ELECTION FALSIFICATION IS GUILTY OF A FELONY OF THE FIFTH DEGREE.

.................................................................................

(Voter must WRITE the voter’s usual signature here.)”

If the identification envelope is for use in a primary election, it shall contain an additional question as follows:

“11. With what political party are you affiliated?”

(B) The director shall also mail with the ballots and the unsealed identification envelope sent by mail an unsealed return envelope, gummed, ready for sealing, for use by the voter in returning the voter’s marked ballots to the director. The director shall send with the ballots and the instruction sheet for preparing a gummed envelope sent by facsimile machine an instruction sheet for preparing a second gummed envelope as described in this division, for use by the voter in returning that voter’s marked ballots to the director. The return envelope shall have two parallel lines, each one quarter of an inch in width, printed across its face paralleling the top, with an intervening space of one quarter of an inch between such lines. The top line shall be one and one-quarter inches from the top of the envelope. Between the parallel lines shall be printed: “OFFICIAL ELECTION ARMED SERVICE ABSENT VOTER’S BALLOTS — VIA AIR MAIL.” Three blank lines shall be printed in the upper left corner on the face of the envelope for the use by the voter in placing the voter’s complete military, naval, or mailing address on these lines, and beneath these lines there shall be printed a box beside the words “check if out-of-country.” The voter shall check this box if the voter will be outside the United States on the day of the election. The official title and the post-office address of the director to whom the envelope shall be returned shall be printed on the face of such envelope in the lower right portion below the bottom parallel line.

“Instructions to voter:

If the flap on this envelope is so firmly stuck to the back of the envelope when received by you as to require forcible opening in order to use it, open the envelope in the manner least injurious to it, and, after marking your ballots and enclosing same in the envelope for mailing them to the director of the board of elections, reclose the envelope in the most practicable way, by sealing or otherwise, and sign the blank form printed below.

The flap on this envelope was firmly stuck to the back of the envelope when received, and required forced opening before sealing and mailing.

...................................................................

(Signature of voter)”

(D) Division (C) of this section does not apply when absent voter’s ballots are sent by facsimile machine.

Effective Date: 08-28-2001