COLUMBUS– State Senator Larry Obhof (R-Medina) Tuesday announced that the Governor has signed Senate Bill 109, which would modernize Ohio’s processes for elections administration and oversight. Among other changes, SB 109 will standardize the use of electronic pollbooks and will permit county boards of elections to send certain documents electronically, thus saving both time and money.
“These simple, common-sense changes will make elections run more smoothly,” Obhof said. “We can make things easier for the voters while making government more efficient and cost-effective.”
The bill authorizes the testing and certification of electronic pollbooks, which would reduce election-day errors by providing poll workers with instant, up-to-date information about voters’ proper polling locations. As the Akron Beacon Journal has noted, “for voters, the devices offer important advantages: verifying registration will take seconds instead of minutes.”
The bill, which received the support of the Ohio Association of Election Officials and the League of Women Voters, also removes outdated references and updates the Revised Code’s terminology. For example, the bill deletes references to “punch card ballots” that are no longer used anywhere in Ohio.