This website publishes administrative rules on their effective dates, as designated by the adopting state agencies, colleges, and
universities.
| Rule |
Rule 111:3-6-01 | Procedures regarding meetings, notices of meetings, and minutes.
Effective:
January 25, 2016
Section 3503.09 of the Revised Code requires the
secretary of state to adopt rules for the electronic transmission by designated
agencies, offices of deputy registrars of motor vehicles, public high schools
and vocational schools, public libraries, and offices of county treasurers,
where applicable, of name and residence changes for voter registration records
in the statewide voter registration database. The law also requires the
secretary of state to adopt rules for the purpose of improving the speed of
processing new voter registrations that permit information from a voter
registration application received by a designated agency or an office of deputy
registrar of motor vehicles to be made available electronically, in addition to
requiring the original voter registration application to be transmitted to the
applicable board of elections under sections 3503.10 and 3503.11 of the Revised
Code. Accordingly, these rules address requirements for transmitting
electronically voter registration applications for new and updated voter
registrations.
Last updated October 26, 2023 at 11:15 AM
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Rule 111:3-6-02 | Definitions.
Effective:
March 28, 2022
(A) "Designated agency" means
an office or agency in the state that provides public assistance or that
provides state-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to
persons with disabilities and that is required by the National Voter
Registration Act of 1993 to implement a program designed and administered by
the secretary of state for registering voters, or any other public or
government office or agency that implements a program designed and administered
by the secretary of state for registering voters, including the department of
job and family services, the program administered under section 3701.132 of the
Revised Code by the department of health and addiction services, the department
of mental health, the department of developmental disabilities, the
opportunities for Ohioans with disabilities agency, the department of medicaid,
and any other agency the secretary of state designates. Designated agency does
not include public high schools and vocational schools, public libraries, or
the office of a county treasurer. (B) "Other registration agency"
means a public high school or vocational school, a public library or the office
of a county treasurer or other office or agency that is permitted or required
to conduct voter registration activities pursuant to applicable sections of the
Ohio Revised Code. (C) "Deputy registrar of motor
vehicles" has the same meaning as office of deputy registrar of motor
vehicles as either may be described in Chapter 4503. of the Revised
Code. (D) "National Voter Registration Act
of 1993" also known as NVRA and the Motor Voter Act means Public Law
103-31, 107 Stat. 77, 42 U.S.C. 1973gg. (E) "Extensible Markup
Language" or "XML" is a set of rules for encoding documents in
machine-readable form, defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the
world wide web consortium (W3C). (F) "Facsimile" is a copy or
reproduction of a document transmitted over a telephone line. (G) "Portable Document Format"
or "PDF" is an open standard for document exchange transmitted, for
purposes of these rules, by electronic mail. PDF is an open file format
specification developed by adobe systems. (H) "Voter registration
application" includes both new voter registration applications and
applications to update an elector's name or residence address, whether by
use of a form or data entry by a designated agency, other registration agency
or deputy registrar of motor vehicles. (I) "Voter registration application
form" means a paper form used to register to vote or to update an
elector's name or residence. (J) "Elector" has the same
meaning as division (N) of section 3501.01 of the Revised Code; that is, a
person having the qualifications provided by law to be entitled to
vote.
Last updated March 29, 2022 at 12:59 PM
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Rule 111:3-6-03 | Processing voter registration applications by designated agencies, other registration agencies and deputy registrars of motor vehicles.
Effective:
March 28, 2022
(A) Every designated agency, other
registration agency, and deputy registrar of motor vehicles shall accept
completed voter registration application forms, regardless of whether a form
was distributed by the designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy
registrar of motor vehicles. Original voter registration application forms
shall be transmitted to the board of elections for the county in which the
agency or deputy registrar is located. Each designated agency and the
appropriate board of elections shall establish a method by which voter
registration application forms are transmitted to that board of elections
within five business days after being accepted by the agency. (B) The secretary of state shall supply
instructions to the designated agencies, other registration agencies, and
deputy registrars of motor vehicles, for the electronic transmission of voter
registration applications to the secretary of state. Each designated agency,
other registration agency or deputy registrar of motor vehicles shall transmit
an identifier for data relating to each new voter registration application form
that shall be used by boards of elections to match the electronic data to the
original voter registration application form. (C) The designated agency, other
registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles may place the
identifier to be used to match the electronic data with the original voter
registration application forms in the upper left corner of the original voter
registration application form, but in no instance shall the identifier indicate
the identity of the agency transmitting the form, or mask in any way the
information supplied by the elector on the original voter registration
application form. (D) Any designated agency, other
registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles that receives a
voter registration application shall electronically transmit the application to
the secretary of state within two business days after receipt. In the case of
an application to update an elector's name or residence, "receipt of
a voter registration application" may consist of the entry or creation of
electronic data in a format approved by the secretary of state. In that case,
the agency or deputy registrar shall include with the record a statement that
the elector's identity was verified at the time of the entry or creation
of the elector's updated electronic data. Voter registration applications
shall be transmitted to the secretary of state by one of the following
methods: (1) Extensible markup
language format (XML) according to XML specifications and according to
instructions provided by the secretary of state; (2) Portable document
format (PDF) and electronic mail according to instructions that may be provided
by the secretary of state; or (3) Facsimile according
to instructions that may be provided by the secretary of state. (E) Voter registration applications shall
be transmitted according to instructions from the secretary of state by the
highest degree of electronic capacity possessed by the designated agency, other
registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles, with XML format
being the highest degree and facsimile being the lowest degree of electronic
capacity. (F) In the event that the designated
agency, other registration agency or deputy registrar of motor vehicles is able
to transmit voter registration applications only by facsimile, the secretary of
state may instruct the agency or deputy registrar to make its electronic
transmissions directly to the appropriate boards of elections, and the boards
of elections shall accept the applications by facsimile and compare them with
the voter registration application forms received from designated agencies,
other registration agencies and deputy registrars of motor
vehicles.
Last updated March 29, 2022 at 12:59 PM
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Rule 111:3-6-04 | Processing voter registration applications received electronically from designated agencies, other registration agencies and deputy registrars of motor vehicles by the secretary of state.
Effective:
March 28, 2022
(A) The secretary of state shall, within
three business days of receipt of a voter registration application from a
designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor
vehicles, verify the data for information required by rule 111:3-6-03 of the
Administrative Code, and transmit the application by the highest degree of
electronic capacity available to the appropriate board of elections with
instructions for verifying the data and updating the board's records of
registered voters in the county. (B) When transmitting voter registration
applications received from designated agencies, other registration agencies and
deputy registrars of motor vehicles to boards of elections, the secretary of
state shall include, in addition to the unique identifier supplied by the
agency or deputy registrar for each voter registration application, a source
identifier of the agency or deputy registrar that supplied the voter
registration application. The secretary of state also shall inform boards of
elections that the boards must keep confidential the source identifier
designating the identity of the agency through which the person registered to
vote or updated their registration. (C) Except as required by the secretary
of state for record-keeping purposes, the identity of an agency through which a
person registered to vote or updated the person's voter registration
records, and information relating to a declination to register to vote shall be
confidential.
Last updated March 29, 2022 at 12:59 PM
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Rule 111:3-6-05 | Training for agencies conducting voter registration activities.
Effective:
March 28, 2022
Each designated agency, other registration agency,
and deputy registrar of motor vehicles shall require its employees to be
trained to administer the voter registration program, including the electronic
transmission program prescribed under this chapter. The training program shall
be developed in consultation with the secretary of state, in order to provide
to each applicant who wishes to register to vote and who accepts assistance,
the same degree of assistance with regard to completion of the voter
registration application as the agency provides in completing its own forms.
Any employee receiving such training shall not be entitled to receive any
additional compensation for performing such duties.
Last updated March 29, 2022 at 12:59 PM
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Rule 111:3-6-06 | Training for boards of elections.
Effective:
March 28, 2022
Each board of elections shall require its employees
to be trained to administer the electronic transmission program prescribed
under this chapter. The secretary of state shall provide training to boards of
elections. Any employee receiving such training shall not be entitled to
receive additional compensation for performing such duties.
Last updated March 29, 2022 at 12:59 PM
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Rule 111:3-6-07 | Processing voter registration applications received from the secretary of state electronically and from designated agencies, other registration agencies and deputy registrars of motor vehicles, by boards of elections.
Effective:
March 28, 2022
(A) When a board of elections receives by
electronic means a new or updated voter registration that has been received by
the secretary of state from a designated agency, other registration agency, or
deputy registrar of motor vehicles, the board shall maintain the electronic
transmission in a separate file or enter it in its database as a pending status
until it compares the electronic record with the voter registration application
form received from the designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy
registrar of the bureau of motor vehicles and verifies the qualifications of a
new registrant or an elector who has applied for a change of name or residence.
The board of elections shall complete these steps before the voter registration
application is added to the statewide voter registration database. (B) The board of elections shall review
and maintain completed voter registration application forms that are
transmitted to the board of elections, as required under section 3503.10 or
3503.11 of the Revised Code. (C) If the board of elections does not
receive the original voter registration application for a new registrant within
ten days after the board of elections received the electronic transmission from
the secretary of state, the board of elections shall contact the designated
agency, other registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles to
determine whether the original completed new voter registration application has
been transmitted. If no original voter registration application form is
received for a new registrant within twenty days after the board of elections
received the electronic transmission, the board of elections shall send to the
elector a new voter registration application form to complete and return to the
board of elections in order to obtain the elector's original signature. If
the original signature is received after the deadline to register for a
particular election but more than fourteen days before the election, the
elector shall be entitled to vote at that election. Nothing in this rule
permits an individual to be registered to vote without supplying an original
signature to the board of elections. (D) In the case of voter registration
applications where the elector has updated their name or residence address and
where no original voter registration application form is required by law, the
board shall include an identifier for the voter registration application
indicating that no original voter registration application form was required or
supplied by the designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy
registrar of motor vehicles, and that the agency or deputy registrar and the
secretary of state verified the elector's information. (E) When a board of elections receives an
electronic transmission of a voter registration application from the secretary
of state that originated from a designated agency, other registration agency,
or deputy registrar of motor vehicles, the board of elections shall retain the
secretary's source identifier for the voter registration application and
the unique identifier supplied by the designated agency, other registration
agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles for the voter registration
application. The board of elections shall use the unique identifier supplied by
the designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor
vehicles to match the electronic data to original voter registration
application forms for purposes of comparison and verification and to qualify
the voter registration data to be entered into the statewide voter registration
database. The board of elections shall not cause the source identifier to
appear on the original voter registration application form and shall redact the
unique identifier to be redacted from public view of a voter registration
application form.
Last updated March 29, 2022 at 12:59 PM
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Rule 111:3-6-08 | Prohibitions.
Effective:
March 28, 2022
The secretary of state and the boards of elections,
their employees and agents, and any third party assisting the secretary of
state or boards of elections, shall not permit any direct electronic connection
between a designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy registrar of
motor vehicles and the statewide voter registration database.
Last updated March 29, 2022 at 12:59 PM
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