Section 3506.01. Voting and tabulation equipment definitions

As used in this chapter and Chapters 3501., 3503., 3505., 3509., 3511., 3513., 3515., 3517., 3519., 3521., 3523., and 3599. of the Revised Code:

(A) "Marking device" means an apparatus operated by a voter to record the voter's choices through the piercing or marking of ballots enabling them to be examined and counted by automatic tabulating equipment.

(B) "Ballot" means the official election presentation of offices and candidates, including write-in candidates, and of questions and issues, and the means by which votes are recorded.

(C) "Automatic tabulating equipment" means a machine or electronic device, or interconnected or interrelated machines or electronic devices, that will automatically examine and count votes recorded on ballots.

(D) "Central counting station" means a location, or one of a number of locations, designated by the board of elections for the automatic examining, sorting, or counting of ballots.

(E) "Voting machines" means mechanical or electronic equipment for the direct recording and tabulation of votes.

(F) "Direct recording electronic voting machine" means a voting machine that records votes by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical or electro-optical components that can be actuated by the voter, that processes the data by means of a computer program, and that records voting data and ballot images in internal or external memory components. A "direct recording electronic voting machine" produces a tabulation of the voting data stored in a removable memory component and in printed copy.

(G) "Help America Vote Act of 2002" means the "Help America Vote Act of 2002," Pub. L. No. 107-252 , 116 Stat. 1666.

(H) "Voter verified paper audit trail" means a physical paper printout on which the voter's ballot choices, as registered by a direct recording electronic voting machine, are recorded. The voter shall be permitted to visually or audibly inspect the contents of the physical paper printout. The physical paper printout shall be securely retained at the polling place until the close of the polls on the day of the election; the secretary of state shall adopt rules under Chapter 119. of the Revised Code specifying the manner of storing the physical paper printout at the polling place. After the physical paper printout is produced, but before the voter's ballot is recorded, the voter shall have an opportunity to accept or reject the contents of the printout as matching the voter's ballot choices. If a voter rejects the contents of the physical paper printout, the system that produces the voter verified paper audit trail shall invalidate the printout and permit the voter to recast the voter's ballot. On and after the first federal election that occurs after January 1, 2006, unless required sooner by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, any system that produces a voter verified paper audit trail shall be accessible to disabled voters, including visually impaired voters, in the same manner as the direct recording electronic voting machine that produces it.

Effective Date: 07-22-1994; 05-07-2004; 05-02-2006