07/25/2024

House Bill 546

Lead Sponsors: Representative Jennifer Gross

Status: 1st hearing in House Government Oversight Committee (June 25, 2024)

Description: The bill requires every Ohio ballot to have a watermark unique to the voter to whom the ballot is assigned, both absentee ballots and election day ballots. If an election official is unable to verify that the watermark is present or that the watermark matches that assigned to the elector, the ballot is deemed fraudulent.

According to the Legislative Service Commission's Fiscal Note for the bill, county boards of elections will incur an aggregate start-up cost of between $1.6 million and $4.6 million to acquire and program machines to comply with the bill's provisions. Ongoing costs will likely cost between $0.023 and $0.052 per ballot to create the watermarks and additional costs to verify accurate and matching watermarks.

CCAO Position: No position (as of July 2024)