§ 3503.151Database maintenance

(A) The secretary of state, through the office of data analytics and archives, and the boards of
elections shall maintain the accuracy of the statewide voter registration database in accordance with
this section.


(B)(1) State agencies, including, but not limited to, the department of health, the bureau of motor
vehicles, the department of job and family services, the department of medicaid, and the department
of rehabilitation and corrections, shall provide any information and data to the secretary of state that
is collected in the course of normal business and that is necessary to register to vote, to update an
elector's registration, or to maintain the statewide voter registration database, except where
prohibited by federal law or regulation. The department of health, the bureau of motor vehicles, the
department of job and family services, the department of medicaid, and the department of
rehabilitation and corrections shall provide that information and data to the secretary of state not later
than the last day of each month. The secretary of state shall ensure that any information or data
provided to the secretary of state that is confidential in the possession of the entity providing the data
remains confidential while in the possession of the secretary of state. No public office, and no public
official or employee, shall sell that information or data or use that information or data for profit.


(2) The secretary of state shall adopt rules under Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that establish, by
mutual agreement with the bureau of motor vehicles, the content and format of the information and
data the bureau of motor vehicles shall provide to the secretary of state under division (B)(1) of this
section and the frequency with which the bureau shall provide that information and data.


(C)(1) The secretary of state shall enter into agreements to share information or data that is in the
possession of the secretary of state with other states or groups of states, as the secretary of state
considers necessary, in order to maintain the statewide voter registration database. Except as
otherwise provided in division (C)(2) of this section, the secretary of state shall ensure that any
information or data provided to the secretary of state that is confidential in the possession of the state
providing the data remains confidential while in the possession of the secretary of state.



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(2) The secretary of state may provide such otherwise confidential information or data to persons or
organizations that are engaging in legitimate governmental purposes related to the maintenance of
the statewide voter registration database. The secretary of state shall adopt rules pursuant to Chapter
119. of the Revised Code identifying the persons or organizations who may receive that information
or data. The secretary of state shall not share that information or data with a person or organization
not identified in those rules. The secretary of state shall ensure that a person or organization that
receives confidential information or data under this division keeps the information or data
confidential in the person's or organization's possession by, at a minimum, entering into a
confidentiality agreement with the person or organization. Any confidentiality agreement entered
into under this division shall include a requirement that the person or organization submit to the
jurisdiction of this state in the event that the person or organization breaches the agreement.


(3) No person or entity that receives information or data under division (C) of this section shall sell
the information or data or use the information or data for profit.


(D) The secretary of state shall regularly transmit to the boards of elections, to the extent permitted
by state and federal law, the information and data the secretary of state receives under divisions (B)
and (C) of this section that is necessary to do the following, in order to ensure that the accuracy of
the statewide voter registration database is maintained on a regular basis in accordance with
applicable state and federal law:


(1) Require the boards of elections to maintain the database in a manner that ensures that the name of
each registered elector appears in the database, that only individuals who are not registered or
eligible to vote are removed from the database, and that duplicate registrations are eliminated from
the database;


(2) Require the boards of elections to make a reasonable effort to remove individuals who are not
eligible to vote from the database;


(3) Establish safeguards to ensure that eligible electors are not removed in error from the database.


(E) The secretary of state shall use the information in the statewide voter registration database and



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the databases of the bureau of motor vehicles and the United States social security administration to
provide information to each board of elections that identifies each voter registration record in the
county in which the elector's date of birth or Ohio driver's license or state identification card number
or the last four digits of the elector's social security number does not match the information in the
database of the bureau of motor vehicles or the United States social security administration for
purposes of section 3503.201 of the Revised Code.


(F)(1) The secretary of state shall adopt rules under Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to establish a
uniform method for addressing instances in which records contained in the statewide voter
registration database do not conform with records maintained by an agency, state, or group of states
described in division (B) or (C) of this section. That method shall prohibit an elector's voter
registration from being canceled on the sole basis that the information in the registration record does
not conform to records maintained by such an agency.


(2) Information provided under division (B) or (C) of this section for maintenance of the statewide
voter registration database shall not be used to update the name or address of a registered elector.
The name or address of a registered elector shall only be updated as a result of the elector's actions in
filing a notice of change of name, change of address, or both.


(3) Except as otherwise provided in section 3503.201 of the Revised Code, a board of elections shall
contact a registered elector pursuant to the rules adopted under division (F)(1) of this section to
verify the accuracy of the information in the statewide voter registration database regarding that
elector if that information does not conform with information provided under division (B) or (C) of
this section and the discrepancy would affect the elector's eligibility to cast a regular ballot.




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