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hb893_00_IN
As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
H. B. No. 893
2025-2026
Representatives Glassburn, Gross
Cosponsors: Representatives Brennan,
Piccolantonio, Synenberg, McNally, Upchurch
To
amend
sections
3501.11 and
3501.29
of the Revised Code
to
require the boards of elections to minimize the standing time while
waiting to vote for voters who experience difficulty standing for a
prolonged period.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
sections
3501.11 and
3501.29
of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec.
3501.11.
Each
board of elections shall exercise by a majority vote all powers
granted to the board by Title XXXV of the Revised Code, shall perform
all the duties imposed by law, and shall do all of the following:
(A)
Establish, define, provide, rearrange, and combine election
precincts;
(B)
Fix and provide the places for registration and for holding primaries
and elections;
(C)
Provide for the purchase, preservation, and maintenance of booths,
ballot boxes, books, maps, flags, blanks, cards of instructions, and
other forms, papers, and equipment used in registration, nominations,
and elections;
(D)
Appoint and remove its director, deputy director, and employees and
all registrars, precinct election officials, and other officers of
elections, fill vacancies, and designate the ward or district and
precinct in which each shall serve;
(E)
Make and issue rules and instructions, not inconsistent with law or
the rules, directives, or advisories issued by the secretary of
state, as it considers necessary for the guidance of election
officers and voters;
(F)
Advertise and contract for the printing of all ballots and other
supplies used in registrations and elections;
(G)
Provide for the issuance of all notices, advertisements, and
publications concerning elections, except as otherwise provided in
division (G) of section 3501.17 and divisions (F) and (G) of section
3505.062 of the Revised Code;
(H)
Provide for the delivery of ballots, pollbooks, and other required
papers and material to the polling places;
(I)
Cause the polling places to be suitably provided with voting
machines, marking devices, automatic tabulating equipment, stalls,
and other required supplies. In fulfilling this duty, each board of a
county that uses voting machines, marking devices, or automatic
tabulating equipment shall conduct a full vote of the board during a
public session of the board on the allocation and distribution of
voting machines, marking devices, and automatic tabulating equipment
for each precinct in the county.
(J)
Investigate irregularities, nonperformance of duties, or violations
of Title XXXV of the Revised Code by election officers and other
persons; administer oaths, issue subpoenas, summon witnesses, and
compel the production of books, papers, records, and other evidence
in connection with any such investigation; and report the facts to
the prosecuting attorney or the secretary of state;
(K)(1)
Review, examine, and certify the sufficiency and validity of
petitions and nomination papers, and, after certification, return to
the secretary of state all petitions and nomination papers that the
secretary of state forwarded to the board;
(2)
Examine each initiative petition, or a petition filed under section
307.94 or 307.95 of the Revised Code, received by the board to
determine whether the petition falls within the scope of authority to
enact via initiative and whether the petition satisfies the statutory
prerequisites to place the issue on the ballot, as described in
division (M) of section 3501.38 of the Revised Code. The petition
shall be invalid if any portion of the petition is not within the
initiative power.
(L)
Receive the returns of elections, canvass the returns, make abstracts
of them, and transmit those abstracts to the proper authorities;
(M)
Issue certificates of election on forms to be prescribed by the
secretary of state;
(N)
Make an annual report to the secretary of state, on the form
prescribed by the secretary of state, containing a statement of the
number of voters registered, elections held, votes cast,
appropriations received, expenditures made, and other data required
by the secretary of state;
(O)
Prepare and submit to the proper appropriating officer a budget
estimating the cost of elections for the ensuing fiscal year;
(P)
Perform other duties as prescribed by law or the rules, directives,
or advisories of the secretary of state;
(Q)
Investigate and determine the residence qualifications of electors;
(R)
Administer oaths in matters pertaining to the administration of the
election laws;
(S)
Prepare and submit to the secretary of state, whenever the secretary
of state requires, a report containing the names and residence
addresses of all incumbent county, municipal, township, and board of
education officials serving in their respective counties;
(T)
Establish and maintain a voter registration database of all qualified
electors in the county who offer to register;
(U)
Maintain voter registration records, make reports concerning voter
registration as required by the secretary of state, and remove
ineligible electors from voter registration lists in accordance with
law and directives of the secretary of state;
(V)
Give approval to ballot language for any local question or issue and
transmit the language to the secretary of state for the secretary of
state's final approval;
(W)
Prepare and cause the following notice to be displayed in a prominent
location in every polling place:
"NOTICE
Ohio
law prohibits any person from voting or attempting to vote more than
once at the same election.
Violators
are guilty of a felony of the fourth degree and shall be imprisoned
and additionally may be fined in accordance with law."
(X)
In all cases of a tie vote or a disagreement in the board, if no
decision can be arrived at, the director or chairperson shall submit
the matter in controversy, not later than fourteen days after the tie
vote or the disagreement, to the secretary of state, who shall
summarily decide the question, and the secretary of state's decision
shall be final.
(Y)
Assist each designated agency, deputy registrar of motor vehicles,
public high school and vocational school, public library, and office
of a county treasurer in the implementation of a program for
registering voters at all voter registration locations as prescribed
by the secretary of state. Under this program, each board of
elections shall direct to the appropriate board of elections any
voter registration applications for persons residing outside the
county where the board is located within five days after receiving
the applications.
(Z)
On any day on which an elector may vote in person at the office of
the board or at another site designated by the board, consider the
board or other designated site a polling place for that day. All
requirements or prohibitions of law that apply to a polling place
shall apply to the office of the board or other designated site on
that day.
(AA)
Perform any duties with respect to voter registration and voting by
uniformed services and overseas voters that are delegated to the
board by law or by the rules, directives, or advisories of the
secretary of state.
(BB)
Prepare an election administration plan and submit it to the
secretary of state not later than seventy-five days before each
presidential primary election and not later than one hundred twenty
days before each general election held in an even-numbered year. The
election administration plan shall be on a template prescribed by the
secretary of state and shall include all of the following:
(1)
Precinct election official recruitment, training, and accountability;
(2)
Resource allocation;
(3)
Communication before and on the day of the election;
(4)
Materials;
(5)
Contingencies and continuity planning;
(6)
Security;
(7)
Voter registration;
(8)
Absent voting;
(9)
Polling places and accessibility
,
including the accommodation plan described in division (C)(2) of
section 3501.29 of the Revised Code
;
(10)
Ballot preparation;
(11)
Pre-election testing;
(12)
Reconciliation and audits;
(13)
A master calendar;
(14)
Any other topic prescribed by the secretary of state.
Sec.
3501.29.
(A)
The board of elections shall provide for each precinct a polling
place and provide adequate facilities at each polling place for
conducting the election. The board shall provide a sufficient number
of screened or curtained voting compartments to which electors may
retire and conveniently mark their ballots, protected from the
observation of others. Each voting compartment shall be provided at
all times with writing implements, instructions how to vote, and
other necessary conveniences for marking the ballot. The voting
location manager shall ensure that the voting compartments at all
times are adequately lighted and contain the necessary supplies. The
board shall utilize, in so far as practicable, rooms in public
schools and other public buildings for polling places. Upon
application of the board of elections, the authority which has the
control of any building or grounds supported by taxation under the
laws of this state, shall make available the necessary space therein
for the purpose of holding elections and adequate space for the
storage of voting machines, without charge for the use thereof. A
reasonable sum may be paid for necessary janitorial service. When
polling places are established in private buildings, the board may
pay a reasonable rental therefor, and also the cost of liability
insurance covering the premises when used for election purposes, or
the board may purchase a single liability policy covering the board
and the owners of the premises when used for election purposes. When
removable buildings are supplied by the board, they shall be
constructed under the contract let to the lowest and best bidder, and
the board shall observe all ordinances and regulations then in force
as to safety. The board shall remove all such buildings from streets
and other public places within thirty days after an election, unless
another election is to be held within ninety days.
(B)(1)
Except as otherwise provided in this section, the board shall ensure
all of the following:
(a)
That polling places are free of barriers that would impede ingress
and egress of persons with disabilities;
(b)
That the minimum number of accessible parking locations for persons
with mobility disabilities are designated at each polling place in
accordance with 28 C.F.R. Part 36, Appendix A, and in compliance with
division (E) of section 4511.69 of the Revised Code;
(c)
That the entrances of polling places are level or are provided with a
nonskid ramp that meets the requirements of the "Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990," 104 Stat. 327, 42 U.S.C. 12101;
(d)
That doors are a minimum of thirty-two inches wide.
(2)
Notwithstanding division (B)(1)(a), (c), or (d) of this section,
certain polling places may be specifically exempted by the secretary
of state upon certification by a board of elections that a good
faith, but unsuccessful, effort has been made to modify, or change
the location of, such polling places.
(C)
(C)(1)
The
board of elections shall permit any elector with a disability who
travels to that elector's polling place, but who is physically unable
to enter the polling place, to vote, with the assistance of two
polling place officials of major political parties, in the vehicle
that conveyed that elector to the polling place, or to receive and
cast that elector's ballot at the door of the polling place. Under no
other circumstance may an elector vote in a vehicle or at the door of
a polling place.
(2)
For each polling place, the board of elections shall create an
accommodation plan to minimize the time voters who experience
difficulty in standing for a prolonged period must stand while
waiting to sign the pollbook or to cast their ballots. The board
shall train the precinct election officials to execute the plan and
shall provide any necessary equipment and signage. The plan shall
require the precinct election officials to offer the accommodation to
all voters, but no voter is required to use any such accommodation.
The plan may include any of the following:
(a)
A priority waiting line that serves voters who experience difficulty
in standing for a prolonged period before serving any other voter who
enters the line;
(b)
A designated seating area that voters may use while waiting to sign
the pollbook or to cast a ballot;
(c)
Any other accommodation that effectively minimizes standing time for
those voters.
(D)
The secretary of state shall:
(1)
Work with other state agencies to facilitate the distribution of
information and technical assistance to boards of elections to meet
the requirements of division (B) of this section;
(2)
Work with organizations that represent or provide services to
citizens who are elderly or who have disabilities to effect a wide
dissemination of information about the availability of absentee
voting, voting in the voter's vehicle or at the door of the polling
place, or other election services to citizens who are elderly or who
have disabilities.
(E)
Before the day of an election, the director of the board of elections
of each county shall sign a statement verifying that each polling
place that will be used in that county at that election meets the
requirements of division (B)(1)(b) of this section. The signed
statement shall be sent to the secretary of state by certified mail
or electronically.
Section
2.
That
existing
sections
3501.11 and
3501.29
of the Revised Code
are
hereby
repealed.
Section
3.
Section
3501.29 of the Revised Code is presented in this act as a composite
of the section as amended by both H.B. 281 and H.B. 458 of the 134th
General Assembly. The General Assembly, applying the principle stated
in division (B) of section 1.52 of the Revised Code that amendments
are to be harmonized and reconciled if reasonably capable of
simultaneous operation, finds that the composite is the resulting
version of the section in effect prior to the effective date of the
section as presented in this act.