SECTION 230:25-13-13. Ballot titles for county, municipal, and school district propositions

(a)   The following requirements shall be observed by all entities when preparing the ballot title - the ballot text - for any question or proposition to be placed on the ballot at a regular or special election called by the entity and conducted by the County Election Board.

(1)   Question or proposition text shall be submitted to the County Election Board in regular upper/lower case. Proposition text presented to the County Election Board in ALL CAPS will be returned to the entity for conversion to upper/lower case.

(2)   Quotation marks and other typographic symbols, also known as "special characters," shall not be used in proposition text.

(3)   Proposition text on the ballot shall not exceed 200 words in length.

(b)   The County Election Board Secretary will provide entity officials with a proof copy of any ballot that includes a question or proposition. Entity officials are responsible for proofreading the ballot title for each question or proposition on the ballot against the ballot title as it appears in the resolution submitted to the County Election Board. Only typographical or scrivener's errors may be corrected in the ballot title at this point. No substantive additions or deletions to the ballot title may be made unless it can be shown that the ballot title on the ballot proof copy does not match the ballot title in the resolution adopted by the governing body of the entity and submitted to the County Election Board. Entity officials should complete the proofreading and notify the County Election Board Secretary in writing of the approval of the ballot proof or of any errors discovered within 48 hours of receiving the proof. The County Election Board Secretary will provide a form for approval and notation of errors with the ballot proof.

(c)   The word limit for ballot titles established in (a) of this Section also shall apply to ballot titles concerning municipal charter amendments. However, the County Election Board may distribute copies of a document that includes either a detailed explanation of the content and effect of the charter amendment or amendments or copies of the actual amendments with absentee ballots and at all polling places within the entity's boundaries. Such document shall be prepared by entity officials or by the entity's legal counsel. The County Election Board shall be neither responsible nor liable for the content or accuracy of such document. The explanatory document shall be delivered to the County Election Board not more than 10 days following submission of the election resolution to the County Election Board Secretary. The entity shall choose one of the following options for duplication of the explanatory document.

(1)   An appropriate appropriate number of copies of the explanatory document may be made at the entity's expense and delivered to the County Election Board Secretary for distribution with absentee ballots and at the polling places on election day.

(2)   The entity shall supply the document to the County Election Board and the County Election Board produce an appropriate number of copies for which the cost shall be included in the Record of Expense submitted to the entity for the election.

[Source: Added at 33 Ok Reg 1416, eff 9-11-16]