Ohio HB471

To amend sections 3513.041 and 3513.05 and to enact section 3513.053 of the Revised Code to allow an elector who is not a member of a political party to protest a person's candidacy for that party's nomination on certain grounds.

Any elector who is eligible to vote at the general election for an office may file a protest under those sections against a person's candidacy for a political party's nomination for the office on the ground that, if elected to the office, the person would be ineligible to hold the office for any of the following reasons: [...] (E) The person is in violation of section 3513.052 or 3513.271 of the Revised Code.

[Section 3513.271, "Name change within five years immediately preceding filing of statement of candidacy" reads: If any person desiring to become a candidate for public office has had a change of name within five years immediately preceding the filing of his statement of candidacy, both his statement of candidacy and nominating petition must contain, immediately following the person's present name, the person's former names. Any person who has been elected under the person's changed name, without submission of the person's former name, shall be immediately suspended from the office and the office declared vacated, and shall be liable to the state for any salary the person has received while holding such office. The attorney general in the case of candidates for state offices, the prosecuting attorney of the most populous county in a district in the case of candidates for district offices, and the prosecuting attorney of the county in the case of all other candidates shall institute necessary action to enforce this section.]