and

possesses

Sec. 4861. Qualifications of Elector. Every citizen of the United States, who is of the age of twenty-one years or over, the qualifications in regard to residence hereinafter provided, shall be entitled to vote at all elections.

History-Const., Art. V, § 1; 110 v. 118.

The provisions of Art. V, § 1 of the constitution, which prescribes the qualifications of electors, control in all elections held to fill offices which the constitution itself has provided for, and in all elections upon questions submitted to a vote pursuant to provisions of the constitution; and such qualifications can be altered only by amendment to the constitution: State ex rel. v French, 96 O. S. 172.

Only a citizen of the United States is a qualified elector, and as such is eligible to the office of village marshal or village councilman: State ex rel. v. Collister, 6 O. C. C. (N. S.) 33, 17 O. C. D. 529.

The right to vote has its source in the constitution of the state, and the statute requiring registration in no way qualifies that right. It follows, therefore, that the phrase "qualified electors," as used in the statutes relating to local option elections, must be construed to mean an elector who is qualified to register within the proposed residence districts and not in the more restricted meaning of one who is not only qualified to register but actually has registered: In re. Jones Law Petition, 11 O. N. P. (N. S.) 241.

Sec. 4862. Residence in State, County, Township and Municipality. No person shall be permitted to vote at any election unless he or she shall have been a resident of the state for one year, resident of the county for thirty days, and, except as provided in the next section, resident of the township, village or ward of a city or village for twenty days next preceding the election at which he or she offers to

vote.

History:-91 v. 182; 97 v. 354; 107 v. 7; 108 v. Pt. II, 1100; 110 v. 118.

This section as enacted in 110 v. 118, contains the subject matter of section 4863, the citations hereunder formerly applying to that section.

The qualifications of an elector in respect to residence is determined from the length of time he has resided in the ward of a village or city as distinguished from the period of residence in the precinct in which he seeks to vote. Op. Atty. Gen. (1916), p. 1692.

Where a candidate for a member of a board of education receiving next to the highest number of votes in the election was not a resident of the district, he cannot legally qualify and a vacancy exists. Op. Atty. Gen. (1920), p. 13.

An inmate of an infirmary may be a resident thereof, and if such resident, may vote in the township in which such infirmary is erected: Sturgeon v. Korte, 34 O. S. 525.

Where a councilman removes outside the state to accept employment, without any fixed intent either to stay or return, the office which he has held does not thereby become vacant: State ex rel. v. Hathaway, 22 O. C. C. (N. S.), 314.

The residence which is required by G. C. § 4207 to qualify one to hold the office of city councilman is the residence which is required to qualify one as an elector: State ex rel. v. Hathaway, 22 O. C. C. (N. S.), 314.

The residence of a person is the place in which he has fixed his habitation without any present intention of removing therefrom, and to which whenever he is absent he has the intention of returning: State ex rel. v. Hathaway, 22 O. C. C. (N. S.), 314.

The requirement of residences which is imposed by G. C. § 4207 is the same as the requirement of residences with reference to the qualifications of electors: State ex rel. v. Hathaway, 22 O. C. C. (N. S.), 314.

The annexation by county commissioners of part of a village to an adjacent city, upon application of the city council and the written request of twothirds of the voters of the territory to be annexed, is not completed until the city council has, by ordinance or resolution, accepted the annexation, and where it does not appear that such ordinance or resolution was passed by the council of the city before the spring election for mayor in the village, on said election day the voters of the part to be annexed are still entitled to vote for mayor of the village: Bach v. Goff, 24 O. C. C. (N. S.), 561.

Sec. 4863. Exceptions as to Head of Family. Any married citizen or any citizen who has a family and who has resided in the state and in the county in which such township, village or ward of a city or village is situated the length of time required by the preceding section, and who bona fide removes with his or her family from a ward to another ward in such city or village, or from a ward of such city or village to a township or village in the same county, or from a township or village to a ward of a city or village in the same county, or from one township to another in the same county, shall have the right to vote in such township, village or ward of a city or village without having resided therein the length of time so prescribed by such section.

History:-75 v. 15, 16; 110 v. 118.

This section as enacted in 110 v. 118, contains the subject matter formerly in section 4864.

The residence of a person is the place in which he has fixed his habitation without any present intention of removing therefrom, and to which whenever he is absent he has the intention of returning: State ex rel. v. Hathaway, 22 O. C. C. (N. S.), 314.

Sec. 4864. Residence Required to Vote at Municipal Elections. Such voter so removing with his or her family from a township to a village or ward of a city or village in the same county shall not have the right to vote at any municipal election held in such city or village, unless he or she shall have resided therein twenty days prior to such municipal election.

History-75 v. 15, 16; 110 v. 119.

This section as enacted in 110 v. 119, contains the subject matter formerly found in section 4865.

Where territory is transferred from one township to another by an unconstitutional statute, electors in such territory are not thereby made legal voters of the township to which it is sought to attach the territory: State ex rel. Bambach v. Markley, 9 O. C. C. (N. S.), 562.

Sec. 4865. Voting Place of Married Woman. The voting residence of a married woman may be determined in the same manner as that of a married man.

History-75 v. 15, 16; 110 v. 119.

Sec. 4866. Rules to Govern Judges in Determining Residence. All judges of election, in determining the residence of a person offering to vote, shall be governed by the following rules, so far as they may be applicable:

1. That place shall be considered the residence of a person in which his habitation is fixed, and to which, whenever he is absent, he has the intention of returning.

2. A person shall not be considered to have lost his residence. who leaves his home, and goes into another state, or county of this state, for temporary purposes merely, with the intention of returning.

3. A person shall not be considered to have gained a residence. in any county of this state, into which he comes for temporary purposes merely, without the intention of making such county his home.

4. The place where the family of a married man resides shall be considered and held to be his place of residence, except where the husband and wife have separated and live apart, then the place where they resided at the time of the separation shall be considered and held to be his place of residence, unless he afterward, and during the time. of such separation, remove from such place, in which case the county, township, city or village in which he resides the length of time required by the provisions of this chapter to entitle a person to vote, shall be considered and held to be his place of residence.

5. If a person remove to another state with an intention to make it his permanent residence, he shall be considered to have lost his residence in this state.

6. If a person remove to another state, with an intention of remaining there an indefinite time, and as a place of present residence, he shall be considered to have lost his residence in this state, notwithstanding he may entertain an intention to return at some future period.

7. If a person remove to the District of Columbia or other federal territory to engage in the government service, he shall not be considered to have lost his residence in any county during the period of such service, and the place where such person resided at the time of his removal shall be considered and held to be his place of residence.

8. The mere intention to acquire a new residence, without the fact of removal, shall avail nothing; neither shall the fact of removal without the intention.

9. If a person go into another state, and while there exercise the right of a citizen by voting, he shall be considered to have lost his residence in this state.

10. All questions of the right to vote shall be heard and determined by the judges of election.

History: 75 v. 16; 107 v. 21.

The question of qualification of a voter must be decided by the judges of election, at the time he presents himself to vote, and their decision must be governed by the instructions prepared and furnished by the secretary of state under Sec. 5047.

A resident of the District of Columbia or other federal territory, while engaged in the government service, may elect a place of residence for voting purposes elsewhere. But he must have a clear intention of returning to such voting residence as soon as his temporary employment in the service of the government has ended.

The school residence required by section 7681, G. C., and the voting residence required by section 4866, G. C., are not identical. Op. Atty. Gen. (1922), p. 33.

The vote of a man otherwise qualified, who is not a lunatic or idiot, but whose faculties are greatly enfeebled by age, ought not to be rejected: Sinks v. Reese, 19 O. S. 307.

Sec. 4867. Where Inmates of Soldiers' Home May Vote. Disabled soldiers who are inmates of a national asylum for disabled volunteer soldiers who are citizens of the United States and have resided in this state one year next preceding the election and are otherwise qualified as to age and residence within the county and township shall have their lawful residence in the county and township in which such asylum is located.

History:-67 v. 98.

If a state has ceded certain territory to the government of the United States for a soldiers' home, and has ceded exclusive jurisdiction thereof, all United States residents of such territory within the limits of the state are not residents of the state, within the meaning of Art. V, § 1, of the Ohio constitution; and accordingly they can not vote at an election held within the state and under the laws thereof: Sinks v. Reese, 19 O. S. 306.

If the United States has conferred upon the state jurisdiction over territory used for a soldiers' home, which territory, together with the jurisdiction thereof had formerly been ceded by the state to the United States, jurisdiction thereof is conferred upon the state without any acceptance thereof by the state or assents thereto. Accordingly persons who reside upon such territory and who possess the other qualifications are qualified electors; and in determining the length of residence, the time of their residence of such territory before the act of cession may be included as well as the time which has elapsed since such act: Renner v. Bennett, 21 O. S. 431.

Sec. 4868. Residence of Inmates of City Infirmaries. The legal residence of a qualified elector who may be an inmate of an infirmary owned or maintained by a city shall be the ward or precinct of such city where such inmate was so domiciled or resident at the time of his admission to such infirmary and shall so continue during the time he may be an inmate thereof.

History:-85 v. 78; 87 v. 316.

The fact that an elector otherwise qualified is enfeebled by age or sickness, does not of itself disqualify him: Sinks v. Reese, 19 O. S. 306.

An inmate of an infirmary is not to be regarded as under illegal restraint or duress; and accordingly he may adopt the infirmary as his place of residence. If he does in fact so adopt it, and if he has no family elsewhere. he is to be regarded as a resident of the township in which such infirmary is situated for the purpose of voting, and if otherwise qualified he becomes a qualified elector of such township: Sturgeon v. Korte, 34 O. S. 525.

Sec. 4869. Municipal Lodging House Not a Residence. A municipal lodging house shall not constitute the legal residence of any person so as to qualify him as an elector in such municipality.

History-100 v. 53.

CHAPTER 5.

REGISTRATION OF ELECTORS.