(A) The board of elections shall provide to a petitioner circulating a petition for an election for the submission of one or more of the questions specified in section 4301.353 or 4301.354 of the Revised Code, at the time of taking out the petition, the names of the streets and, if appropriate, the address numbers of residences and business establishments within the precinct that would be affected by the results of the election, and a form prescribed by the secretary of state for notifying affected permit holders of the circulation of a petition for an election for the submission of one or more of the questions specified in section 4301.353 or 4301.354 of the Revised Code. The petitioner shall, not less than fifty-five days before the petition-filing deadline for the election, as provided in this section, file with the division of liquor control the information regarding names of streets and, if appropriate, address numbers of residences and business establishments provided by the board of elections, and specify to the division the portion of the precinct that would be affected by the results of the election and the filing deadline. The division shall, within a reasonable period of time and not later than twenty-five days before the filing deadline, supply the petitioner with a list of the names and addresses of permit holders, if any, who would be affected by the election. The list shall contain a heading with the following words: "Liquor permit holders who would be affected by the question(s) set forth on petition for a local option election."

Within five days after a petitioner has received from the division the list of liquor permit holders, if any, who would be affected by the question or questions set forth on a petition for local option election, the petitioner, using the form provided by the board of elections, shall notify by certified mail each permit holder whose name appears on that list. The form for notifying affected permit holders shall require the petitioner to state the petitioner's name and street address and shall contain a statement that a petition is being circulated for an election for the submission of the question or questions specified in section 4301.353 or 4301.354 of the Revised Code. The form shall require the petitioner to state the question or questions to be submitted as they appear on the petition.

The petitioner shall attach a copy of the list provided by the division to each petition paper. A part petition paper circulated at any time without the list of affected permit holders attached to it is invalid.

At the time the petitioner files the petition with the board of elections, the petitioner shall provide to the board the list supplied by the division and an affidavit certifying that the petitioner notified all affected permit holders, if any, on the list in the manner and within the time required in this section and that, at the time each signer of the petition affixed the signer's signature to the petition, the petition paper contained a copy of the list of affected permit holders.

Within five days after receiving a petition calling for an election for the submission of one or more of the questions specified in section 4301.353 or 4301.354 of the Revised Code, the board shall give notice by certified mail that it has received the petition to all liquor permit holders, if any, whose names appear on the list of affected permit holders filed by the petitioner as furnished by the division. Failure of the petitioner to supply the affidavit required by this section and a complete and accurate list of liquor permit holders as furnished by the division invalidates the entire petition. The board of elections shall provide to a permit holder who would be affected by a proposed local option election, on the permit holder's request, the names of the streets, and, if appropriate, the address numbers of residences and business establishments within the portion of the precinct that would be affected by the results of the election. The board may charge a reasonable fee for this information when provided to the petitioner and the permit holder.

This division does not apply to an election held under section 4301.353 or 4301.354 of the Revised Code if the results of the election would not affect any permit holder.

(B) Upon the presentation of a petition, not later than four p.m. of the ninetieth day before the day of a general or primary election, to the board of elections of the county where the precinct is located, designating whether it is a petition for an election for the submission of one or both of the questions specified in section 4301.353 of the Revised Code, or a petition for the submission of one or more of the questions specified in section 4301.354 of the Revised Code, designating the particular question or questions specified in section 4301.353 or 4301.354 of the Revised Code that are to be submitted, and signed by the qualified electors of the precinct concerned, equal in number to thirty-five per cent of the total number of votes cast in the precinct concerned for the office of governor at the preceding general election for that office, the board shall submit the question or questions specified in the petition to the electors of the precinct concerned, on the day of the next general or primary election, whichever occurs first and shall proceed as follows:

(1) Such board shall, not later than the seventy-eighth day before the day of the election for which the question or questions on the petition would qualify for submission to the electors of the precinct, examine and determine the sufficiency of the signatures and review, examine, and determine the validity of the petition and, in case of overlapping precinct petitions presented within that period, determine which of the petitions shall govern the further proceedings of the board. In the case where the board determines that two or more overlapping petitions are valid, the earlier filed petition shall govern. The board shall certify the sufficiency and validity of any petition determined to be valid. The board shall determine the validity of the petition as of the time of certification as described in this division.

(2) If a petition is sufficient, and, in case of overlapping precinct petitions, after the board has determined the governing petition, the board to which the petition has been presented shall order the holding of a special election in the precinct for the submission of whichever of the questions specified in section 4301.353 or 4301.354 of the Revised Code are designated in the petition, on the day of the next general or primary election, whichever occurs first.

(C) All petitions filed with a board of elections under this section shall be open to public inspection under rules adopted by the board.

(D) Protest against local option petitions may be filed by any elector eligible to vote on the question or questions described in the petitions or by a permit holder in the precinct as described in the petitions, not later than four p.m. of the seventy-fourth day before the day of the general or primary election for which the petition qualified. The protest shall be in writing and shall be filed with the election officials with whom the petition was filed. Upon filing of the protest, the election officials with whom it is filed shall promptly fix the time for hearing it, and shall mail notice of the filing of the protest and the time and place for hearing it to the person who filed the petition and to the person who filed the protest. At the time and place fixed, the election officials shall hear the protest and determine the validity of the petition.

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

Effective Date: 03-30-1999; 05-02-2006