Ohio voting issues

2008 election events

 * Nov. 20, 2008. A federal judge has ruled that provisional ballots submitted to poll workers with errors on the outside of the envelope, but otherwise valid, must be counted.
 * Nov 18, 2008. Ohio Republicans have announced that they plan to introduce legislation that would close voter registration 65 days before an election.
 * Nov. 6, 2008. Up to 35,000 voters in Franklin County may have been required to vote on provisional ballots on election day, after a data-processing error incorrectly flagged them as ineligible to vote.
 * Nov. 4, 2008: Confusion over what constitutes valid I.D. has led some polling location judges to issue provisional ballots in error.
 * Nov. 4, 2008. Election Protection coalition reports many voters showing to vote and finding they are not on the registration rolls.
 * Nov. 3, 2008. According to CNN, voters in Ohio are reporting robo-calls that provide misleading information about the voting schedule.

Election and registration information

 * Look Up Your Voting Information


 * Search for voting location


 * Absentee ballot information

Voter ID requirements
All voters must bring identification to the polls in order to verify their identity. Identification may include a current and valid photo identification, military identification; or a copy of a current (within the last 12 months) utility bill (including cell phone bill), bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document, other than a notification mailed by the board of elections, that shows the voter’s name and current address (including from a public college or university). Voters who do not provide one of these documents at the polling place will still be able to vote a provisional ballot as described earlier in this guide, and may provide such identification to the board of elections within the 10 days following Election Day.

Voters who do not have any of the above forms of identification, including a Social Security number, will still be able to vote by signing an affirmation statement swearing to the voter's identity under penalty of election falsification and by casting a provisional ballot.

Provisional voting
Every voter must provide proof of identity at the time of voting. A person who casts a provisional ballot and does not provide acceptable proof of identity at the time of voting is allowed to provide such proof within 10 days after the election, in accordance with law.

A provisional ballot is used to record a vote if a voter's eligibility is in question and the voter would otherwise not be permitted to vote at his or her polling place. The content of a provisional ballot is no different from a regular ballot, but it is cast "provisionally" until election officials can verify the voter's eligibility.

There are several scenarios in which a voter may cast a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot may be used on Election Day if a voter's eligibility is in question, or before (or on) Election Day if a voter has recently changed his or her address or name and did not update his or her voter registration.

Any of the following scenarios would require you to cast a provisional ballot on Election Day :

(Note: You cannot use as proof of identification a notice that the board of elections mailed to you.);
 * Your name does not appear on the official poll list for an election, or an election official asserts that you are not eligible to vote or is unable to determine your eligibility;
 * You are unable or decline to provide the required proof of identity, which includes a current and valid photo identification, military identification; or a copy of a current (within the last 12 months) utility bill (including cell phone bill), bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows your name and current address (including from a public college or university).
 * Your name appears on the poll list or signature book as having requested an absentee ballot;
 * Your name is marked on the poll list or signature book with a notation that registration mailings have been returned as undeliverable;
 * A hearing on a challenge to your eligibility as an elector has been postponed until after Election Day;
 * Your signature, in the opinion of the precinct officers, does not match the signature on your registration form; or
 * Your eligibility to cast a ballot has been challenged by the precinct officers.

Before your provisional ballot can be included in the official count of an election, the board of elections must confirm your eligibility to cast the ballot, as well as the validity of the ballot that you cast.

If you cast your provisional ballot and provided acceptable proof of identity, you typically do not need to provide any additional information to the board of elections.

If you cast a provisional ballot and did not provide acceptable proof of identity at the time of voting, you must appear in person at the board of elections to provide such proof within the 10 days immediately following Election Day, in accordance with Ohio law. The following guidelines apply :


 * 1) If you cast a provisional ballot because you had - but could not provide to election officials at the time you voted - acceptable proof of your identity or the last four digits of your Social Security number, you must provide to the board of elections one of the following:
 * 2) Acceptable proof of your identity in the form of a current and valid photo identification;
 * 3) A military identification;
 * 4) A copy of a current (within the last 12 months) utility bill (including cell phone bill), bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document (but not a voter registration notification mailed by a board of elections) that shows your name and current address (including from a public college or university); or
 * 5) The last four digits of your Social Security number.
 * 6) If you cast a provisional ballot because, at the time you voted, you had - but declined to provide - an acceptable form of identification or the last four digits of your Social Security number, and you declined to execute the written affirmation statement swearing to your identity under penalty of election falsification, you must provide to the board of elections one of the following:
 * 7) Acceptable proof of your identity in the form of a current and valid photo identification;
 * 8) A military identification;
 * 9) A copy of a current (within the last 12 months) utility bill (including cell phone bill), bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document (but not a voter registration notification mailed by a board of elections) that shows your name and current address (including from a public college or university); or
 * 10) The last four digits of your Social Security number.
 * 11) If you cast a provisional ballot because, at the time you voted, you did not have any acceptable form of identification or a Social Security number, and you declined to execute the written affirmation statement swearing to your identity under penalty of election falsification, you must provide to the board of elections one of the following:
 * 12) Acceptable proof of your identity in the form of a current and valid photo identification;
 * 13) A military identification;
 * 14) A copy of a current (within the last 12 months) utility bill (including cell phone bill), bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document (but not a voter registration notification mailed by a board of elections) that shows your name and current address (including from a public college or university);
 * 15) The last four digits of your Social Security number; or
 * 16) A signed affirmation statement (provided by the board of elections) stating that you do not have any of the above items.
 * 17) If you cast a provisional ballot because your right to vote was challenged at the polling place under R.C. 3505.20, and the election officials either determined that you were ineligible to vote or were unable to determine your eligibility, you must provide any identification or other documentation required to resolve the challenge.

See Ohio Secretary of State Provisional Voting Information Page

2008 election
For the 2008 election Ohio used the following voting machines. For a county-by-county list of the specific machines (and the source for this section) see Verified Votings' Verifier tool.

Direct-Recording Electronic (DRE) machines with a paper trail:


 * Premier Election Solutions's (Diebold) AccuVote-TSX.
 * Election Systems & Software's iVotronic.
 * Hart InterCivic's eSlate.

Optical scan machines:


 * Election Systems & Software's Model 100.
 * Hart InterCivic's eScan.

Assistive Devices for Marking Paper Ballots:
 * Election Systems & Software's AutoMARK Technical Systems AutoMARK VAT

Governmental election authorities

 * Secretary of State: Jennifer Brunner
 * General Agency Phone Number: 877-767-6446 (SOS-OHIO) or local 614-466-2655
 * Elections division 614-466-2585
 * For email contacts use the form at the website.


 * County Boards of Elections directory


 * Ohio Secretary of State Election Voter Services

State and local non-governmental election organizations
Citizens’ Alliance for Secure Elections - CASE Ohio

Description : The Citizens’ Alliance for Secure Elections (C.A.S.E.) is a non-partisan organization of citizens from across Ohio who advocate for elections that are secure, reliable, and employ the nation’s best practices. We inform the public, the media, political leaders and government officials about problems in Ohio which we believe compromise our voting system, and about the best solutions to these problems.


 * Website: http://www.caseohio.org

League of Women Voters

LWV of Ohio, Linda Lalley, President
 * 17 South High Street, Suite 650
 * Columbus, OH 43215-3413
 * Phone: 614-469-1505
 * Fax 614-469-7918
 * E-mail: lwvoinfo@lwvohio.org
 * membership@lwvohio.org
 * http://www.lwvohio.org

Local Leagues:
 * Akron Area
 * Ashtabula County
 * Athens
 * Bowling Green
 * Canton Area
 * Chillicothe-Ross
 * Cincinnati Area
 * Clermont County
 * Cleveland
 * Cuyahoga Area
 * Darke County
 * Delaware County
 * Geauga County
 * Greater Dayton Area
 * Greater Youngstown
 * Hudson
 * Kent
 * Lake County
 * Lima Area
 * Marietta-Washington County
 * Marion
 * Metropolitan Columbus
 * Oberlin
 * Northern Portage Area
 * Oxford
 * Perrysburg Area
 * Portsmouth/Scioto County
 * Shaker Heights
 * Tallmadge
 * Tiffin
 * Toledo-Lucas County
 * Trumbull County
 * Wayne County

External resources

 * Student Voting Project Ohio a Brennan Center for Justice explanation of student voting rights in Ohio.

Voter Protection Laws in A Nutshell
 * Ohio Voter Protection Laws in A Nutshell

Voter ID Toolkit
 * Ohio Voter ID Toolkit

County polling location
 * Franklin County
 * 2-1-1  (from Columbus)
 * 614-462-3100 (FCBOE automated phone system)
 * Franklin County voter lookup

Ohio voting problems
 * 877-VOTE-VRI (SOS Voting Rights Hotline)
 * 877-AG4OHIO  (AG's Election Fraud reporting number)
 * 216-472-2200 (Ohio ACLU)
 * Ohio SOS VRI voter experience
 * Ohio ACLU voting complaints

External articles

 * Ian Urbina, In Tight Race, Victor May Be Ohio Lawyers, New York Times, October 31, 2008.