2011 Ohio Revised Code
Title [35] XXXV ELECTIONS
Chapter 3519: INITIATIVE; REFERENDUM
3519.16 [First of Two Versions] Protests against board finding.

The circulator of any part-petition, the committee interested in the petition, or any elector may file with the board of elections a protest against the board’s findings made pursuant to section 3519.15 of the Revised Code. Protests shall be in writing and shall specify reasons for the protest. Protests for all initiative and referendum petitions other than those to be voted on by electors throughout the entire state shall be filed not later than four p.m. of the seventy-fourth day before the day of the election. Once a protest is filed, the board shall proceed to establish the sufficiency or insufficiency of the signatures and of the verification of those signatures in an action before the court of common pleas in the county. The action shall be brought within three days after the protest is filed, and it shall be heard forthwith by a judge of that court, whose decision shall be certified to the board. The signatures that are adjudged sufficient or the part-petitions that are adjudged properly verified shall be included with the others by the board, and those found insufficient and all those part-petitions that are adjudged not properly verified shall not be included.

The properly verified part-petitions, together with the report of the board, shall be returned to the secretary of state not less than sixty days before the election, provided that, in the case of an initiated law to be presented to the general assembly, the boards shall promptly check and return the petitions together with their report. The secretary of state shall notify the chairperson of the committee in charge of the circulation as to the sufficiency or insufficiency of the petition and the extent of the insufficiency.

If the petition is found insufficient because of an insufficient number of valid signatures, the committee shall be allowed ten additional days after the notification by the secretary of state for the filing of additional signatures to the petition. The part-petitions of the supplementary petition that appear to the secretary of state to be properly verified, upon their receipt by the secretary of state, shall forthwith be forwarded to the boards of the several counties together with the part-petitions of the original petition that have been properly verified. They shall be immediately examined and passed upon as to the validity and sufficiency of the signatures on them by each of the boards and returned within five days to the secretary of state with the report of each board. No signature on a supplementary part-petition that is the same as a signature on an original part-petition shall be counted. The number of signatures in both the original and supplementary petitions, properly verified, shall be used by the secretary of state in determining the total number of signatures to the petition that the secretary of state shall record and announce. If they are sufficient, the amendment, proposed law, or law shall be placed on the ballot as required by law. If the petition is found insufficient, the secretary of state shall notify the committee in charge of the circulation of the petition.

Amended by 128th General Assembly File No. 29, HB 48, § 1, eff. 7/2/2010.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953; 05-07-2004

This section is set out twice. See also § 3519.16, as amended by 129th General Assembly File No. 40, HB 194, § 1. This amendment may be subject to referendum in the Nov. 6, 2012 election.

3519.16 [Second of Two Versions] Form and filings of part-petitions

(A) Pursuant to Section 1g of Article II, Ohio Constitution, the supreme court of Ohio shall have original, exclusive jurisdiction in all challenges to initiative and referendum petitions.

(B) The petitioner of any petition shall include upon each part-petition filed with the secretary of state a designation of the county in which the part-petition was circulated and a number for each part-petition. In any county where part-petitions are circulated, each part-petition shall be numbered sequentially. Upon the filing of the petition with the secretary of state, the petitioner of any petition shall also file the following:

(1) An electronic copy of the petition filed along with a verification that the electronic copy is a true representation of the original paper petition filed with the secretary of state;

(2) A summary of the number of part-petitions filed per county and the number of signatures on each part-petition;

(3) An index of the electronic copy.

(C) For a request made under Chapter 149. of the Revised Code for the inspection or copying of the original petition filed with the secretary of state, the request is fulfilled when the secretary of state provides inspection of or copies of the electronic copy filed by the petitioner of the petition. This section applies from the time of the initial filing of the petition with the secretary of state and remains applicable until the part-petitions are returned to the secretary of state from the local board of elections after a determination of sufficiency of the petition pursuant to section 3519.15 of the Revised Code.

(D) Discrepancies between the electronic copy filed under division (B)(1) of this section and the original paper petitions as filed with the secretary of state shall not render the petition invalid. Discrepancies between a filed electronic copy and the original paper petition, if the product of fraud, shall be subject to criminal penalties under section 3599.36 of the Revised Code.

(E) The properly verified part-petitions, together with the report of the board, shall be returned to the secretary of state . The secretary of state shall notify, by certified mail, each member of the committee in charge of the circulation as to the sufficiency or insufficiency of the petition and the extent of the insufficiency.

If the petition is found insufficient because of an insufficient number of valid signatures, the committee shall be allowed ten additional days after the first member of the committee receives notice of the petition’s insufficiency by certified mail from the secretary of state for the filing of additional signatures to the petition. No additional signatures may be collected by the circulator of the petition until the secretary of state determines the sufficiency of the signatures that the circulator originally filed with the secretary of state The part-petitions of the supplementary petition that appear to the secretary of state to be properly verified, upon their receipt by the secretary of state, shall forthwith be forwarded to the boards of the several counties together with the part-petitions of the original petition that have been properly verified. They shall be immediately examined and passed upon as to the validity and sufficiency of the signatures on them by each of the boards and returned within five days to the secretary of state with the report of each board. No signature on a supplementary part-petition that is the same as a signature on an original part-petition shall be counted. The number of signatures in both the original and supplementary petitions, properly verified, shall be used by the secretary of state in determining the total number of signatures to the petition that the secretary of state shall record and announce. If they are sufficient, the amendment, proposed law, or law shall be placed on the ballot as required by law. If the petition is found insufficient, the secretary of state shall notify the committee in charge of the circulation of the petition.

Amended by 129th General Assembly File No. 40, HB 194, § 1. This amendment may be subject to referendum in the Nov. 6, 2012 election.

Amended by 128th General Assembly File No. 29, HB 48, § 1, eff. 7/2/2010.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953; 05-07-2004

This section is set out twice. See also § 3519.16, effective prior to amendment by HB 5 of the 129th Legislature.