COLUMBUS – Backers of a for-profit marijuana-legalization amendment remain confident the issue will be on the November ballot despite a detour through the Ohio Supreme Court, even though they fell short of the number of petition signatures needed in their initial attempt.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office reported Monday that ResponsibleOhio’s petition fell 29,509 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters short of the 305,591 need to qualify for the Nov. 3 ballot. Husted’s tally from boards of elections statewide showed 276,082 valid signatures statewide, which was 39.7 percent of the 695,273 signatures from 72 counties submitted June 30.
ResponsibleOhio’s Executive Director Ian James said his group will go to the Supreme Court to challenge the status of about 40,000 signatures on the petition which he said are “unaccounted for” or were improperly tossed out in the tally released by Husted.
“Every single voter who signed this petition has the right to be counted. We will be taking these shortfalls to the Supreme Court to ensure that those thousands of voices are heard,” James said.
State law was changed in 2013 to channel appeals of petition issues directly to the Supreme Court.
The amendment would allow adults 21 and over to buy marijuana and establishes areas where marijuana can be grown and harvested.
ResponsibleOhio won’t count on the Supreme Court appeal, James said, but will put 200 people to work during a 10-day “cure period” to gather the necessary signatures to fill the gap. Additional names must be submitted to the secretary of state by July 30 and verified by county elections boards.
Boards of election officials around the state who reviewed the signatures said most were thrown out because signers listed the wrong address, were not registered, didn’t list any address, used a false or illegible signature, or left lines blank.