If the board finds upon the record of a hearing that a question of representation exists, it shall direct an election and certify the results thereof. No one may vote in an election by proxy. The board may also certify an employee organization as an exclusive representative if it determines that a free and untrammelled election cannot be conducted because of the employer's unfair labor practices and that at one time the employee organization had the support of the majority of the employees in the unit.
Petitions for elections may be filed with the board no sooner than one hundred twenty days or later than ninety days before the expiration date of any collective bargaining agreement, or after the expiration date, until the public employer and exclusive representative enter into a new written agreement.
For the purposes of this section, extensions of agreements do not affect the expiration date of the original agreement.
R.C. § 4117.07