TrustVoting Atlas

(A) Any qualified elector, who, on account of the elector's own personal illness, physical disability,
or infirmity, or on account of the elector's confinement in a jail or workhouse under sentence for a
misdemeanor or awaiting trial on a felony or misdemeanor, will be unable to travel from the elector's
home or place of confinement to the voting booth in the elector's precinct on the day of any general,
special, or primary election may make application in writing for an absent voter's ballot to the board
of elections of the elector's county in the manner described in section 3509.03 of the Revised Code.
The application shall state the nature of the elector's illness, physical disability, or infirmity, or the
fact that the elector is confined in a jail or workhouse and the elector's resultant inability to travel to
the election booth in the elector's precinct on election day.


The absent voter's ballot may be mailed directly to the applicant at the applicant's voting residence or
place of confinement as stated in the applicant's application, or the board may designate two board
employees belonging to the two major political parties for the purpose of delivering the ballot to the
disabled or confined elector and returning it to the board, unless the applicant is confined to a public
or private institution within the county, in which case the board shall designate two board employees
belonging to the two major political parties for the purpose of delivering the ballot to the disabled or
confined elector and returning it to the board. In all other instances, the ballot shall be returned to the
office of the board in the manner prescribed in section 3509.05 of the Revised Code.


Any disabled or confined elector who declares to the two board employees belonging to the two
major political parties that the elector is unable to mark the elector's ballot by reason of physical
infirmity that is apparent to the employees to be sufficient to incapacitate the voter from marking the
elector's ballot properly, may receive, upon request, the assistance of the employees in marking the
elector's ballot, and they shall thereafter give no information in regard to this matter. Such assistance
shall not be rendered for any other cause.


When two board employees belonging to the two major political parties deliver a ballot to a disabled
or confined elector, each of the employees shall be present when the ballot is delivered, when



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assistance is given, and when the ballot is returned to the office of the board, and shall subscribe to
the declaration on the identification envelope.


The secretary of state shall prescribe the form of application for absent voter's ballots under this
division.


This chapter applies to disabled and confined absent voter's ballots except as otherwise provided in
this section.


(B)(1) Any qualified elector who is unable to travel to the voting booth in the elector's precinct on
the day of any general, special, or primary election may apply to the board of elections of the county
where the elector is a qualified elector to vote in the election by absent voter's ballot if either of the
following apply:


(a) The elector is confined in a hospital as a result of an accident or unforeseeable medical
emergency occurring before the election;


(b) The elector's minor child is confined in a hospital as a result of an accident or unforeseeable
medical emergency occurring before the election.


(2) The application authorized under division (B)(1) of this section shall be made in writing in the
manner described in section 3509.03 of the Revised Code, except that the application shall be
delivered to the office of the board not later than three p.m. on the day of the election. The
application shall indicate the hospital where the applicant or the applicant's child is confined, the date
of the applicant's or the applicant's child's admission to the hospital, and the offices for which the
applicant is qualified to vote. The applicant may also request that a member of the applicant's family,
as listed in section 3509.05 of the Revised Code, deliver the absent voter's ballot to the applicant.
The board, after establishing to the board's satisfaction the validity of the circumstances claimed by
the applicant, shall supply an absent voter's ballot to be delivered to the applicant. When the
applicant or the applicant's child is in a hospital in the county where the applicant is a qualified
elector and no request is made for a member of the family to deliver the ballot, the board shall
arrange for the delivery of an absent voter's ballot to the applicant, and for its return to the office of
the board, by two board employees belonging to the two major political parties according to the



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procedures prescribed in division (A) of this section. When the applicant or the applicant's child is in
a hospital outside the county where the applicant is a qualified elector and no request is made for a
member of the family to deliver the ballot, the board shall arrange for the delivery of an absent
voter's ballot to the applicant by mail, and the ballot shall be returned to the office of the board in the
manner prescribed in section 3509.05 of the Revised Code.


(3) Any qualified elector who is eligible to vote under division (B) or (C) of section 3503.16 of the
Revised Code but is unable to do so because of the circumstances described in division (B)(2) of this
section may vote in accordance with division (B)(1) of this section if that qualified elector states in
the application for absent voter's ballots that that qualified elector moved or had a change of name
under the circumstances described in division (B) or (C) of section 3503.16 of the Revised Code and
if that qualified elector complies with divisions (G)(1) to (4) of section 3503.16 of the Revised Code.


(C) Any qualified elector described in division (A) or (B)(1) of this section who needs no assistance
to vote or to return absent voter's ballots to the board of elections may apply for absent voter's ballots
under section 3509.03 of the Revised Code instead of applying for them under this section or may
cast absent voter's ballots in person under section 3509.051 of the Revised Code.


(D) Any qualified elector described in division (A) or (B)(1) of this section to whom ballots are
delivered by two employees of the board of elections or who votes with the assistance of two
employees of the board of elections shall be considered to have cast absent voter's ballots by mail,
rather than in person, for the purpose of the laws governing voter identification.




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