§ 3505.06Questions and issues ballot

(A) On the questions and issues ballot shall be printed all questions and issues to be submitted at any
one election together with the percentage of affirmative votes necessary for passage as required by
law. Such ballot shall have printed across the top thereof, and below the stubs, "Official Questions
and Issues Ballot."


(B)(1) Questions and issues shall be grouped together on the ballot from top to bottom as provided in
division (B)(1) of this section, except as otherwise provided in division (B)(2) of this section. State
questions and issues shall always appear as the top group of questions and issues. In calendar year
1997, the following questions and issues shall be grouped together on the ballot, in the following
order from top to bottom, after the state questions and issues:


(a) County questions and issues;


(b) Municipal questions and issues;


(c) Township questions and issues;


(d) School or other district questions and issues.


In each succeeding calendar year after 1997, each group of questions and issues described in division
(B)(1)(a) to (d) of this section shall be moved down one place on the ballot except that the group that
was last on the ballot during the immediately preceding calendar year shall appear at the top of the
ballot after the state questions and issues. The rotation shall be performed only once each calendar
year, beginning with the first election held during the calendar year. The rotation of groups of
questions and issues shall be performed during each calendar year as required by division (B)(1) of
this section, even if no questions and issues from any one or more such groups appear on the ballot at
any particular election held during that calendar year.




                                                 Page 1

(2) Questions and issues shall be grouped together on the ballot, from top to bottom, in the following
order when it is not practicable to group them together as required by division (B)(1) of this section
because of the type of voting machines used by the board of elections: state questions and issues,
county questions and issues, municipal questions and issues, township questions and issues, and
school or other district questions and issues. The particular order in which each of a group of state
questions or issues is placed on the ballot shall be determined by, and certified to each board of
elections by, the secretary of state.


(3) Failure of the board of elections to rotate questions and issues as required by division (B)(1) of
this section does not affect the validity of the election at which the failure occurred, and is not
grounds for contesting an election under section 3515.08 of the Revised Code.


(C) The particular order in which each of a group of county, municipal, township, or school district
questions or issues is placed on the ballot shall be determined by the board providing the ballots.


(D) The printed matter pertaining to each question or issue on the ballot shall be enclosed at the top
and bottom thereof by a heavy horizontal line across the width of the ballot. Immediately below such
top line shall be printed a brief title descriptive of the question or issue below it, such as "Proposed
Constitutional Amendment," "Proposed Bond Issue," "Proposed Annexation of Territory," "Proposed
Increase in Tax Rate," or such other brief title as will be descriptive of the question or issue to which
it pertains, together with a brief statement of the percentage of affirmative votes necessary for
passage, such as "A sixty-five per cent affirmative vote is necessary for passage," "A majority vote is
necessary for passage," or such other brief statement as will be descriptive of the percentage of
affirmative votes required.


(E) The questions and issues ballot need not contain the full text of the proposal to be voted upon. A
condensed text that will properly describe the question, issue, or an amendment proposed by other
than the general assembly shall be used as prepared and certified by the secretary of state for state-
wide questions or issues or by the board for local questions or issues. If other than a full text is used,
the full text of the proposed question, issue, or amendment together with the percentage of
affirmative votes necessary for passage as required by law shall be posted in each polling place in
some spot that is easily accessible to the voters.




                                                     Page 2

(F)(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (F)(2) of this section, each question and issue
appearing on the questions and issues ballot may be consecutively numbered. The question or issue
determined to appear at the top of the ballot may be designated on the face thereof by the Arabic
numeral "1" and all questions and issues placed below on the ballot shall be consecutively numbered.
Such numeral shall be placed below the heavy top horizontal line enclosing such question or issue
and to the left of the brief title thereof.


(2) Beginning with the general election to be held on November 5, 2024, a state question or issue
determined to appear at the top of the ballot shall be designated on the face thereof by the Arabic
numeral "1" and all state questions and issues placed below on the ballot shall be consecutively
numbered. For elections occurring after the general election held on November 5, 2024, a state
question or issue determined to appear at the top of the ballot shall be designated on the face thereof
by the Arabic numeral that is consecutive to the Arabic numeral of the last state question or issue
that appeared on the ballot at the immediately preceding election at which a state question or issue
appeared on the ballot and all state questions or issues placed below on the ballot shall be
consecutively numbered. Such numeral shall be placed below the heavy top horizontal line enclosing
such question or issue and to the left of the brief title thereof. Once a state question or issue appears
on the ballot designated by the Arabic numeral "500," the state question or issue appearing at the top
of the ballot at the immediately following election at which a state question or issue appears on the
ballot shall be designated by the Arabic numeral "1."


(G) No portion of a ballot question proposing to levy a property tax in excess of the ten-mill
limitation under any section of the Revised Code, including the renewal of such a levy, may be
printed in boldface type or in a font size that is different from the font size of other text in the ballot
question. The prohibitions in division (G) of this section do not apply to printed matter either
described in division (D) of this section related to such a ballot question or located in the area of the
ballot in which votes are indicated for or against that question.




                                                   Page 3