(A) The board of elections shall place uniformed services or overseas absent voter's ballots sent by mail in an unsealed identification envelope, gummed ready for sealing. The board shall include with uniformed services or overseas absent voter's ballots sent electronically, including 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 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 Ohio driver's license or state identification card number is _______________ (Driver's license or state identification card 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 or state identification card number or the last four digits of my Social Security Number, I am enclosing a copy of my photo identification in the return envelope in which this identification envelope will be mailed.
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."
(B) The board 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 office of the board. The board shall send with the ballots and the instruction sheet for preparing a gummed envelope sent electronically, including 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 board. 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 UNIFORMED SERVICES OR OVERSEAS 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. The post-office address of the office of the board shall be printed on the face of such envelope in the lower right portion below the bottom parallel line.
(C) On the back of each identification envelope and each return envelope shall be printed the following:
"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 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 electronically, including by facsimile machine.
(E) Except as otherwise provided in this division and in sections3505.24and3509.08of 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 or electronically transmitting absent voter's ballots to the elector, except that if the elector has a confidential voter registration record, as described in section111.44of the Revised Code, the board of elections shall not preprint the elector's address on the identification envelope statement of voter.
Last updated January 19, 2023 at 10:32 AM