Section 3509.04 | Delivery of absent voter's ballot.
(A) If a director of a board of elections receives an application for absent voter's ballots that does not contain all of the required information, the director promptly shall notify the applicant of the additional information required to be provided by the applicant to complete that application.
(B) Upon receipt by the director of elections of an application for absent voter's ballots that contains all of the required information, as provided by section 3509.03 and division (G) of section 3503.16 of the Revised Code, the director, if the director finds that the applicant is a qualified elector, shall deliver to the applicant in person or mail directly to the applicant by special delivery mail, air mail, or regular mail, postage prepaid, proper absent voter's ballots. The director shall deliver or mail with the ballots an unsealed identification envelope upon the face of which shall be printed a form substantially as follows:
"Identification Envelope Statement of Voter
I, ________________________(Name of voter), declare under penalty of election falsification that the within ballot or ballots contained no voting marks of any kind when I received them, and I caused the ballot or ballots to be marked, enclosed in the identification envelope, and sealed in that envelope.
My voting residence in Ohio is
________________________________________________________________
(Street and Number, if any, or Rural Route and Number)
of ________________________________ (City, Village, or Township) Ohio, which is in Ward _____________ Precinct ________________ in that city, village, or township.
If I have a confidential voter registration record, I am providing my program participant identification number instead of my residence address: ________________________
The primary election ballots, if any, within this envelope are primary election ballots of the _____________ Party.
Ballots contained within this envelope are to be voted at the __________ (general, special, or primary) election to be held on the __________________________ day of ______________________, ____.
My date of birth is _______________ (Month and Day), __________ (Year).
(Voter must provide one of the following:)
My driver's license number is _______________ (Driver's license number).
The last four digits of my Social Security Number are _______________ (Last four digits of Social Security Number).
______ In lieu of providing a driver's license number or the last four digits of my Social Security Number, I am enclosing a copy of one of the following in the return envelope in which this identification envelope will be mailed: a current and valid photo identification, a military identification, or a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document, other than a notice of voter registration mailed by a board of elections, that shows my name and address.
I hereby declare, under penalty of election falsification, that the statements above are true, as I verily believe.
_________________________
(Signature of Voter)
WHOEVER COMMITS ELECTION FALSIFICATION IS GUILTY OF A FELONY OF THE FIFTH DEGREE."
The director shall mail with the ballots and the unsealed identification envelope an unsealed return envelope upon the face of which shall be printed the official title and post-office address of the director. In the upper left corner on the face of the return envelope, several blank lines shall be printed upon which the voter may write the voter's name and return address. The return envelope shall be of such size that the identification envelope can be conveniently placed within it for returning the identification envelope to the director.
A board of elections that mails or otherwise delivers absent voter's ballots to an elector under this section shall not prepay the return postage for those ballots.
Except as otherwise provided in this section and in sections 3505.24 and 3509.08 of the Revised Code, an election official shall not fill out any portion of an identification envelope statement of voter or an absent voter's ballot on behalf of an elector. A board of elections may preprint only an elector's name and address on an identification envelope statement of voter before mailing absent voter's ballots to the elector, except that if the elector has a confidential voter registration record, as described in section 111.44 of the Revised Code, the board of elections shall not preprint the elector's address on the identification envelope statement of voter.
Available Versions of this Section
- June 1, 2014 – Senate Bill 205 - 130th General Assembly [ View June 1, 2014 Version ]
- September 8, 2016 – House Bill 359 - 131st General Assembly [ View September 8, 2016 Version ]
- April 7, 2023 – Amended by House Bill 458 - 134th General Assembly [ View April 7, 2023 Version ]