Paper township

This condition can be met in multiple ways: Under other provisions of state law, a township can exist nominally in rump form without a government if the remaining unincorporated portion of a township does not meet the requirements for incorporation or annexation.

For example, both Butler[5] and Hamilton[6] counties share a nominal Heritage Township that corresponds with the City of Fairfield; on the other hand, Hamilton, Clermont,[7] and Warren counties each have a separate, nominal Loveland Township that corresponds to part of the City of Loveland.

On January 23, 1981, Wayne Township in Montgomery County was re-incorporated as the city of Huber Heights.

However, a small portion of Wayne Township east of the Mad River was part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

[13] Decades earlier in 1943, Millcreek Township in Hamilton County became defunct, leaving no local government, after annexations by Cincinnati and withdrawals by other villages reduced the township to only a cemetery without even a resident property owner eligible to vote for annexation.

[18][19] Paper townships are a relatively obscure phenomenon that can create major surprises in election administration.

In 1890, a defunct, largely forgotten Storrs Township in Hamilton County upended the Ohio Democratic Party's gerrymandering scheme, potentially affecting the balance of power in the United States House of Representatives, when a state redistricting act was inadvertently worded in a way that failed to place the township's residents in any congressional district.