Ohio § 4301.334

§ 4301.334.

(A) The privilege of local option conferred by section 4301.324 of the Revised Code may be exercised if, not later than four p.m. of the ninetieth day before the day

of a general election or a special election held on a day on which a primary election

may be held, a petition and other information required by division (B) of this section

are presented to the board of elections of the county in which the community facility

named in the petition is located.  The petition shall be signed by electors of the municipal corporation or unincorporated

area of the township in which the community facility is located equal in number to

at least ten per cent of the total number of votes cast in the municipal corporation

or unincorporated area of the township in which the community facility is located

for the office of governor at the most recent general election for that office and

shall contain both of the following: (1) A notice that the petition is for the submission of the question set forth in section 4301.356 of the Revised Code ; (2) The name and address of the community facility for which the local option election

is sought and, if the community facility is a community entertainment district, the

boundaries of the district. (B) Upon the request of a petitioner, a board of elections of a county shall furnish

to the petitioner a copy of the instructions prepared by the secretary of state under division (P) of section 3501.05 of the Revised Code and, within fifteen days after the request, a certificate indicating the number of

valid signatures that will be required on a petition to hold an election in the municipal

corporation or unincorporated area of the township in which the community facility

is located on the question specified in section 4301.356 of the Revised Code . The petitioner shall, not less than thirty days before the petition-filing deadline

for an election on the question specified in section 4301.356 of the Revised Code , specify to the division of liquor control the name and address of the community

facility for which the election is sought and, if the community facility is a community

entertainment district, the boundaries of the district, the municipal corporation

or unincorporated area of a township in which the election is sought, and the filing

deadline.  The division shall, within a reasonable period of time and not later than ten days

before the filing deadline, supply the petitioner with the name and address of any

permit holder for or within the community facility. The petitioner shall file the name and address of any permit holder who would be affected

by the election at the time the petitioner files the petition with the board of elections.  Within five days after receiving the petition, the board shall give notice by certified

mail to any permit holder within the community facility that it has received the petition.  Failure of the petitioner to supply the name and address of any permit holder for

or within the community facility as furnished to the petitioner by the division invalidates

the petition. (C) Not later than the seventy-eighth day before the day of the next general election

or the next special election held on a day on which a primary election may be held,

whichever occurs first, the board shall examine and determine the sufficiency of the

signatures on the petition.  If the board finds that the petition is valid, it shall order the holding of an

election in the municipal corporation or unincorporated area of a township on the

day of the next general election or the next special election held on a day on which

a primary election may be held, whichever occurs first, for the submission of the

question set forth in section 4301.356 of the Revised Code . (D) A petition filed with a board of elections under this section shall be open to public

inspection under rules adopted by the board. (E) An elector who is eligible to vote on the question set forth in section 4301.356 of the Revised Code or any permit holder for or within the community facility may, not later than four

p.m. of the seventy-fourth day before the day of the election at which the question

will be submitted to the electors, file a written protest against the local option

petition with the board of elections with which the petition was filed.  Upon the filing of the protest, the board shall promptly fix a time and place for

hearing the protest and shall mail notice of the time and place to the person who

filed the petition and to the person who filed the protest.  At the time and place fixed, the board shall hear the protest and determine the

validity of the petition.