Ohio bill would change recount process

[Judi Lynn]

Ohio bill would change recount process

Thursday, April 21, 2005 By JOHN McCARTHY
Associated Press writer

COLUMBUS — A revamped elections bill would require the state to finish its recount in a presidential election six days before the vote of the Electoral College and make other changes prompted by last November’s election in Ohio.
(snip)

The bill also would:

• Specify that election workers may direct voters to their correct precincts. Provisional ballots cast outside a voter’s correct precinct cannot be counted, but some counties collected such ballots, then disqualified them.

• Allow voters to use absentee ballots without giving a reason. Current law requires voters to be 62 or older, be out of the country on Election Day, have a relative hospitalized or meet other requirements.

• Move the statewide primary in presidential election years from March to May. The Legislature moved the date up to give Ohio more clout in presidential elections, but county boards and candidates have complained about the early date.

• Prohibit candidates for federal office from running for state or local office, currently permitted in Ohio.

• Purge the rolls of ineligible voters no later than 120 days after a general election.

• Establish the statewide voter database mandated by the Help America Vote Act as a public record.

• Change the filing deadline for candidates and ballot issues from 90 days before an election to 75 days.

• Require the secretary of state to publish directives on the agency’s Web site within 24 hours.
(snip/...)

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=13&ID=219042&r=0
(Free registration will be required)

[DUgosh]

1. Don't tease me like this

This might mean that votes might actually be errrrrrr counted?????????? Surely you jest

[Wilms]

2. Might be these two.

HB 3 Regular Session Pending
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_HB_3

Subcategories: | Counting Votes | HAVA Compliance | Provisional Voting | Recounts | Registration-Centralized Voter List | Voter Education/Information | Voter ID-New Voters Only | Voter Intent |

Description: · Permits an individual to cast a provisional ballot in an election for a federal office if the individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction and eligible to vote in that election but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote.
· Permits an individual to cast a provisional ballot in an election for an office other than a federal office or for state or local questions and issues if the individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction and eligible to vote in that election but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote.
· Defines a "jurisdiction" as the precinct in which a person is a legally qualified elector for the purpose of determining whether an individual is eligible to cast a provisional ballot.
· Establishes procedures for the casting and counting of provisional ballots.
· Requires the appropriate state or local election official to establish a free access system through which an individual who casts a provisional ballot may ascertain whether the individual's vote was counted and, if it was not counted, the reason.
· Requires certain voting information to be publicly posted at each polling place on the day of each election for federal office, the day of each election for an office other than a federal office, and the day of each election for state or local questions and issues.
· Defines "optical scan ballots" and specifies the types of marks on those ballots that constitute valid votes.
· Creates specific procedures for counting optical scan ballots.
· Specifies that teams of employees of a board of elections must remake and count as valid ballots, optical scan ballots that were improperly marked and rejected as blank ballots, if the teams are able to determine that specified types of marks demonstrate the intent of the voter.
· Requires first-time electors who registered to vote by mail to provide identification before being permitted to cast a ballot, and permits those electors to cast a provisional ballot if they do not provide the required identification.
· Requires the Secretary of State to establish a single computerized statewide voter registration list of all legally registered voters in Ohio that complies with the requirements of federal law.
· Requires the applicant for a non-automatic recount to pay the entire cost of the recount if its results do not change the result of the election, and modifies or repeals various provisions pertaining to applications for those recounts and the determination of the charges for them.


SB 3 Regular Session Pending
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_SB_3

Subcategories: | Counting Votes | HAVA Compliance | Provisional Voting | Recounts | Registration-Centralized Voter List | Voter Education/Information | Voter ID-New Voters Only | Voter Intent |

Description: · Permits an individual to cast a provisional ballot in an election for a federal office if the individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction and eligible to vote in that election but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote.
· Permits an individual to cast a provisional ballot in an election for an office other than a federal office or for state or local questions and issues if the individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction and eligible to vote in that election but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote.
· Defines a "jurisdiction" as the precinct in which a person is a legally qualified elector for the purpose of determining whether an individual is eligible to cast a provisional ballot.
· Establishes procedures for the casting and counting of provisional ballots.
· Requires the appropriate state or local election official to establish a free access system through which an individual who casts a provisional ballot may ascertain whether the individual's vote was counted and, if it was not counted, the reason.
· Requires certain voting information to be publicly posted at each polling place on the day of each election for federal office, the day of each election for an office other than a federal office, and the day of each election for state or local questions and issues.
· Defines "optical scan ballots" and specifies the types of marks on those ballots that constitute valid votes. · Creates specific procedures for counting optical scan ballots.
· Specifies that teams of employees of a board of elections must remake and count as valid ballots, optical scan ballots that were improperly marked and rejected as blank ballots, if the teams are able to determine that specified types of marks demonstrate the intent of the voter.
· Requires first-time electors who registered to vote by mail to provide identification before being permitted to cast a ballot, and permits those electors to cast a provisional ballot if they do not provide the required identification.
· Requires the Secretary of State to establish a single computerized statewide voter registration list of all legally registered voters in Ohio that complies with the requirements of federal law.
· Requires the applicant for a non-automatic recount to pay the entire cost of the recount if its results do not change the result of the election, and modifies or repeals various provisions pertaining to applications for those recounts and the determination of the charges for them.