3599.19 Prohibitions concerning judge or clerk of elections. - Ohio Statutes

3599.19 Prohibitions concerning judge or clerk of elections.

(A) No judge of elections shall knowingly do any of the following:

(1) Unlawfully open or permit to be opened the sealed package containing registration lists, ballots, blanks, pollbooks, and other papers and material to be used in an election;

(2) Unlawfully misplace, carry away, negligently lose or permit to be taken from the judge, fail to deliver, or destroy any such packages, papers, or material;

(3) Receive or sanction the reception of a ballot from a person not a qualified elector or from a person who refused to answer a question in accordance with the election law;

(4) Refuse to receive or sanction the rejection of a ballot from a person, knowing that person to be a qualified elector;

(5) Permit a fraudulent ballot to be placed in the ballot box;

(6) Place or permit to be placed in any ballot box any ballot known by the judge to be improperly or falsely marked;

(7) Count or permit to be counted any illegal or fraudulent ballot;

(8) Mislead an elector who is physically unable to prepare the elector’s ballot, mark a ballot for such elector otherwise than as directed by that elector, or disclose to any person, except when legally required to do so, how such elector voted;

(9) Alter or mark or permit any alteration or marking on any ballot when counting the ballots;

(10) Unlawfully count or tally or sanction the wrongful counting or tallying of votes;

(11) After the counting of votes commences, as required by law, postpone or sanction the postponement of the counting of votes, adjourn at any time or to any place, or remove the ballot box from the place of voting, or from the custody or presence of all the judges of such elections;

(12) Permit any ballot to remain or to be in the ballot box at the opening of the polls, or to be put in the box during the counting of the ballots, or to be left in the box without being counted;

(13) Admit or sanction the admission to the polling room at an election during the receiving, counting, and certifying of votes of any person not qualified by law to be so admitted;

(14) Refuse to admit or sanction the refusal to admit any person, upon lawful request for admission, who is legally qualified to be present;

(15) Permit or sanction the counting of the ballots contrary to the manner prescribed by law;

(16) Neglect or unlawfully execute any duty enjoined upon the judge by law.

(B) Whoever violates division (A) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.

Effective Date: 12-09-1997; 2007 HB119 09-29-2007