Geauga County Recorder: Free Discharge Recording and the Veterans' ID Card

The State rules are the Ohio entry's: free recording, a record closed to the public and the optional county veterans identification card (Revised Code 317.24, 317.241 and 317.324). The Recorder's page: "We will record your DD214 free of charge. Your DD214 forms may be presented for filing Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m." Its FAQ: "You must bring your original discharge paperwork to our office to be recorded in order to be issued a Veterans ID Card." The card. The office has issued cards since 2013, over 1,500 of them: "We must have two forms of current and valid identification, at least one of which bears a photograph of the individual ... We will take the picture and print the ID card while you wait. Our hours for issuing ID cards are 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m." Early cards carried a four-year expiry and are being reissued: bring the old card and a current driver's licence. In December 2025 the Commissioners let Recorder Celesta Mullins spend $5,930 on new card equipment, meant to be portable so cards can be made at events. Against the statute. The page says "We are only allowed to issue ID Cards for Veterans with Honorable Discharges." Section 317.241 asks only that the discharge be recorded and two IDs shown, and that the office confirm, where it can, that the record "does not indicate the individual was dishonorably discharged"; a veteran with a general or other-than-honorable discharge may ask the Recorder to apply the statute. The statute also makes a card good for ten years. Suite 1-C, Courthouse Annex, 231 Main Street, Chardon, OH 44024-1299; (440) 279-2020; [email protected].