Ohio Door-to-Door Permits and Campaign Pre-Knock Checks

Verify every municipal boundary in your walk area and prepare your shift materials before assigning packets to volunteers. Separate sections of the Ohio Revised Code shape field preparation across local jurisdictions: Ohio Revised Code 715.63 gives municipal corporations the power to license hawkers and peddlers rather than placing that licensing power with a state agency, Ohio Revised Code 2911.21 defines criminal trespass on posted or enclosed premises, and Ohio Revised Code 3517.091 governs door-to-door solicitations for political contributions. Work through each item below before your canvassers step onto the turf:

• Review municipal ordinances across your walk area: Check local rules for every municipality on your walk list, because under Ohio Revised Code 715.63 any municipal corporation may license hawkers and peddlers and charge a reasonable license fee.
• Train canvassers to spot posted notices and barriers: Brief volunteers on Ohio Revised Code 2911.21(3), which makes it an offense to recklessly enter or remain on another's land or premises where notice against unauthorized access or presence is given by actual communication, by posting in a manner reasonably calculated to come to the attention of potential intruders, or by fencing or other enclosure manifestly designed to restrict access.
• Instruct volunteers to leave immediately upon notice: Direct canvassers to follow Ohio Revised Code 2911.21(4), which prohibits negligently failing or refusing to leave another's land or premises upon being notified by signage posted in a conspicuous place or otherwise being notified to do so by the owner, the occupant, or the agent or servant of either.
• Print pre-solicitation disclosures if asking for contributions: Prepare written handouts required by Ohio Revised Code 3517.091(B), which requires giving the person being solicited a written notice before making any door-to-door solicitation for contributions to support or oppose a candidate, containing the solicitor's and organization's name and address, the purposes the money contributed might be used for, the amount of the solicitor's compensation, and a statement that the person may refuse to contribute without reprisal.
• Set up a contribution and expenditure log for Secretary of State filings: Track all door-to-door contribution activity under Ohio Revised Code 3517.091(A), which requires any person or organization making door-to-door solicitations for contributions to support or oppose a candidate for political office to report in writing to the Secretary of State by July 31 for the first six months of the calendar year and by January 31 for the second six months of the previous calendar year, listing the solicitor and the organization and its director, each contributor with amount and date, and all receipts and expenditures.

Pull the codified ordinances for each city and village inside your Ohio campaign district before cutting walk lists that cross local borders. Under Ohio Revised Code 715.63, Ohio law places licensing power with municipal corporations rather than a state agency, authorizing any municipal corporation to license exhibitors of shows or performances of any kind, hawkers, peddlers, auctioneers of horses and other animals on the highways or public grounds of the municipal corporation, vendors of gunpowder and other explosives, taverns, houses of public entertainment, and hucksters in the public streets or markets. In granting such a license, the municipal corporation may charge a reasonable license fee.

Because Ohio places hawker and peddler licensing power with each municipal corporation rather than a state agency, a field director running an Ohio school-board or legislative campaign should check the clerk's office or local code in every municipality the district covers before staging volunteers. Reviewing your walk map by municipal boundary lets your team confirm local clerk procedures for each Ohio city or village before packets go out. Activate groups nearby stops and splits them across your team automatically.

Before volunteers head to their assigned streets in Ohio, instruct them at staging to scan every yard entrance and porch for posted signs, gates, or restricted enclosures and to walk away immediately whenever a sign or resident tells them not to knock. Under Ohio Revised Code 2911.21(3), it is a criminal trespass offense in Ohio to recklessly enter or remain on the land or premises of another when notice against unauthorized access or presence is given by actual communication to the offender, in a manner prescribed by law, by posting in a manner reasonably calculated to come to the attention of potential intruders, or by fencing or other enclosure manifestly designed to restrict access. Under Ohio Revised Code 2911.21(4), it is also an offense, while being on the land or premises of another, to negligently fail or refuse to leave upon being notified by signage posted in a conspicuous place or otherwise being notified to do so by the owner or occupant, or the agent or servant of either. Make skipping posted doors and honoring verbal requests from owners or occupants, or the agent or servant of either, a standard part of your Ohio staging script so volunteers never linger at a restricted property and instead record the household from the sidewalk. Each visit records Yes, No, Not Home or Skip, plus notes.

Equip every canvasser who will ask for campaign contributions at the door with printed disclosure sheets and a contributor log sheet at staging. Under Ohio Revised Code 3517.091(B), before making any door-to-door solicitation for contributions to support or oppose the campaign of any candidate for political office, or to influence legislation or the actions of any regulatory agency, the solicitor must give the person being solicited a written notice. That written notice handed to the resident before the solicitation begins must contain all of the following:

• The name and address of the solicitor, the name and address of the organization, if any, for which the solicitation is made, and the name and address of the organization's director or chief executive officer.
• A list of any purposes for which money contributed might be used.
• The amount of compensation, if any, being paid to the solicitor.
• A statement that the person being solicited may refuse to make a contribution without suffering any reprisal.

Alongside the doorstep disclosure, Ohio Revised Code 3517.091(A) requires that, except as otherwise provided in division (E) of that section, any person or organization making door-to-door solicitations for contributions to influence legislation, to influence the actions of any regulatory agency, or to support or oppose the campaign of any candidate for political office must report in writing to the Ohio Secretary of State by July 31 of each year with regard to actions taken during the first six months of that calendar year, and by January 31 of each year with regard to actions taken during the second six months of the previous calendar year. Each written report to the Secretary of State must include the name and address of the solicitor, the organization (if any), and the organization's director or chief executive officer; the name and address of each person or organization from which it received one or more contributions, along with the amount and date of each contribution; and a complete list of all receipts and expenditures made to influence legislation, to influence the actions of any regulatory agency, or to support or oppose the campaign of any candidate for political office. Have your campaign treasurer log those contributor names, addresses, dates, amounts, and related expenditures after every walk shift so the July 31 and January 31 reports are ready on schedule. For general campaign procedures when collecting contributions on a canvass, see our guide to door-to-door fundraising.