§ 3505.31

tally sheets.
Effective: October 3, 2023
Legislation: House Bill 33


When the results of the voting in a polling place on the day of an election have been determined and
entered upon the proper forms and the certifications of those results have been signed by the precinct
officials, those officials, before leaving the polling place, shall place all ballots that they have
counted in containers provided for that purpose by the board of elections, and shall seal each
container in a manner that it cannot be opened without breaking the seal or the material of which the
container is made. They shall also seal the pollbook, poll list or signature pollbook, and tally sheet in
a manner that the data contained in these items cannot be seen without breaking the seals. On the
outside of these items shall be a plain indication that they are to be filed with the board. The voting
location manager and an employee or appointee of the board of elections who has taken an oath to
uphold the laws and constitution of this state, including an oath that the person will promptly and
securely perform the duties required under this section and who is a member of a different political
party than the voting location manager, shall then deliver to the board the containers of ballots and
the sealed pollbook, poll list, and tally sheet, together with all other election reports, materials, and
supplies required to be delivered to the board.


The board shall carefully preserve all ballots prepared and provided by it for use in an election,
whether used or unused, including any electronic images of ballots, for at least eighty-one days after
the day of the election, except that, if an election includes the nomination or election of candidates
for any of the offices of president, vice-president, presidential elector, member of the senate of the
congress of the United States, or member of the house of representatives of the congress of the
United States, the board shall carefully preserve all ballots prepared and provided by it for use in that
election, whether used or unused, for twenty-two months after the day of the election. If an election
is held within that eighty-one-day period, the board shall have authority to transfer those ballots to
other containers to preserve them until the eighty-one-day period has expired. After that eighty-one-
day period, the ballots shall be disposed of by the board in a manner that the board orders, or where
voting machines have been used the counters may be turned back to zero; provided that the secretary
of state, within that eighty-one-day period, may order the board to preserve the ballots or any part of



                                                   Page 1

the ballots for a longer period of time, in which event the board shall preserve those ballots for that
longer period of time.


In counties where voting machines are used, if an election is to be held within the eighty-one days
immediately following a primary, general, or special election or within any period of time within
which the ballots have been ordered preserved by the secretary of state or a court of competent
jurisdiction, the board, after giving notice to all interested parties and affording them an opportunity
to have a representative present, shall open the compartments of the machines and, without
unlocking the machines, shall recanvass the vote cast in them as if a recount were being held. The
results shall be certified by the board, and this certification shall be filed in the board's office and
retained for the remainder of the period for which ballots must be kept. After preparation of the
certificate, the counters may be turned back to zero, and the machines may be used for the election.


The board shall carefully preserve the pollbook, poll list or signature pollbook, and tally sheet
delivered to it from each polling place until it has completed the official canvass of the election
returns from all precincts in which electors were entitled to vote at an election, and has prepared and
certified the abstracts of election returns, as required by law. The board shall not break, or permit
anyone to break, the seals upon the pollbook, poll list or signature pollbook, and tally sheet, or make,
or permit any one to make, any changes or notations in these items, while they are in its custody,
except as provided by section 3505.32 of the Revised Code.


Pollbooks and poll lists or signature pollbooks of a party primary election delivered to the board
from polling places shall be carefully preserved by it for two years after the day of election in which
they were used, and shall then be disposed of by the board in a manner that the board orders.


Pollbooks, poll lists or signature pollbooks, tally sheets, summary statements, and other records and
returns of an election delivered to it from polling places shall be carefully preserved by the board for
two years after the day of the election in which they were used, and shall then be disposed of by the
board in a manner that the board orders.




                                                   Page 2