§ 3505.03Office type ballots

(A) On the office type ballot shall be printed the names of all candidates for election to offices,
except the office of judge of a municipal court, county court, or court of common pleas, who were
nominated at the most recent primary election as candidates of a political party or who were
nominated in accordance with section 3513.02 of the Revised Code, and the names of all candidates
for election to offices who were nominated by nominating petitions, except candidates for the office
of judge of a municipal court, county court, or court of common pleas, for member of a board of
education, for municipal offices, and for township offices.


(B) The face of the ballot below the stub shall be substantially in the following form:


"OFFICIAL OFFICE TYPE BALLOT


(1) To vote for a candidate record your vote in the manner provided next to the name of such
candidate.


(2) If you tear, soil, deface, or erroneously mark this ballot, return it to the precinct election officers
or, if you cannot return it, notify the precinct election officers, and obtain another ballot."


(C) The order in which the offices shall be listed on the ballot shall be prescribed by, and certified to
each board of elections by, the secretary of state; provided that for state, district, and county offices
the order from top to bottom shall be as follows: governor and lieutenant governor, attorney general,
auditor of state, secretary of state, treasurer of state, chief justice of the supreme court, justice of the
supreme court, United States senator, representative to congress, state senator, state representative,
judge of a court of appeals, county commissioner, county auditor, prosecuting attorney, clerk of the
court of common pleas, sheriff, county recorder, county treasurer, county engineer, and coroner. The
offices of governor and lieutenant governor shall be printed on the ballot in a manner that requires a
voter to cast one vote jointly for the candidates who have been nominated by the same political party
or petition.



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(D) Within the rectangular space within which the title of each judicial office listed in division (C) of
this section is printed on the ballot and immediately below the title shall be printed the date of the
commencement of the term of the office, if it is a full term, as follows: "Full term commencing
_______(Date)_______," or the date of the end of the term of the office, if it is an unexpired term, as
follows: "Unexpired term ending _______(Date)________"


(E)(1) The names of all candidates for an office shall be arranged in a group under the title of that
office, and, except for absentee ballots or when the number of candidates for a particular office is the
same as the number of candidates to be elected for that office, shall be rotated from one precinct to
another. On absentee ballots, the names of all candidates for an office shall be arranged in a group
under the title of that office and shall be so alternated that each name shall appear, insofar as may be
reasonably possible, substantially an equal number of times at the beginning, at the end, and in each
intermediate place, if any, of the group in which such name belongs, unless the number of candidates
for a particular office is the same as the number of candidates to be elected for that office.


(2) The method of printing the ballots to meet the rotation requirement of this section shall be as
follows: the least common multiple of the number of names in each of the several groups of
candidates shall be used, and the number of changes made in the printer's forms in printing the
ballots shall correspond with that multiple. The board of elections shall number all precincts in
regular serial sequence. In the first precinct, the names of the candidates in each group shall be listed
in alphabetical order. In each succeeding precinct, the name in each group that is listed first in the
preceding precinct shall be listed last, and the name of each candidate shall be moved up one place.
In each precinct using paper ballots, the printed ballots shall then be assembled in tablets.


(F) Under the name of each candidate nominated at a primary election, nominated by petition under
section 3517.012 of the Revised Code, or certified by a party committee to fill a vacancy under
section 3513.31 of the Revised Code shall be printed, in less prominent type face than that in which
the candidate's name is printed, the name of the political party by which the candidate was
nominated or certified. Under the name of each candidate appearing on the ballot who filed a
nominating petition and requested a ballot designation as a nonparty candidate under section
3513.257 of the Revised Code shall be printed, in less prominent type face than that in which the
candidate's name is printed, the designation of "nonparty candidate." Under the name of each



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candidate appearing on the ballot who filed a nominating petition and requested a ballot designation
as an other-party candidate under section 3513.257 of the Revised Code shall be printed, in less
prominent type face than that in which the candidate's name is printed, the designation of "other-
party candidate." No designation shall appear under the name of a candidate appearing on the ballot
who filed a nominating petition and requested that no ballot designation appear under the candidate's
name under section 3513.257 of the Revised Code, or who filed a nominating petition and failed to
request a ballot designation either as a nonparty candidate or as an other-party candidate under that
section.


(G) Except as provided in this section, no words, designations, or emblems descriptive of a candidate
or the candidate's political affiliation, or indicative of the method by which the candidate was
nominated or certified, shall be printed under or after a candidate's name that is printed on the ballot.




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