OhioNewsBureau

Opinion Editorial

Columbus, Ohio: With 41 days left until November 4th, Election Day, voters may be left standing at the altar when it comes to voting on two statewide issues, one to permit one full-gambling casino to be built and one that returns the interest rate payday-lenders can charge for short-term loans to current law.

Fee for Filers Could Solve See-Saw Battles on Ballot Issues Over Petition Process

Opinion Editorial

OhioNewsBureau

Columbus, Ohio: With 41 days left until November 4th, Election Day, voters may be left standing at the altar when it comes to voting on two statewide issues, one to permit one full-gambling casino to be built and one that returns the interest rate payday-lenders can charge for short-term loans to current law.

With many months of signature gathering in Ohio now history, the approximately $14 million spent by the pro-casino group -- MyOhioNow.com -- and the approximately $2 million spent by the guardians of personal choice and financial freedom (even if it does come with a 391 percent price tag) -- Ohioans for Financial Freedom -- may be sidetracked from going forward by small but important aspects of Ohio's signature gathering process, that could become down right lethal if some state officials declare that the groups who brought these two statewide ballot issues as far as they have commited administrative errors that disqualify them from proceeding further.

The sundry problems associated with gathering signatures to put statewide issues on the ballot is not new. Every election cycle, one group or another will either make uncommitted errors of their own or will be challenged on some technicality by their opponent. Major campaigns qualify for the statewide ballot this year by gathering 241,366 valid signatures from Ohioans registered to vote. The Ohio Secretary of State oversees a process that with the help of the state's 88 boards of election determines the validity of those signatures, which in turn determine whether any issue will make the ballot, where voters will declare their will on it.

Previously, Ohioans have exercised their will on three occasions not to permit casino-style gambling. This year, the reasons why Ohioans may not object to the moral sins of gambling may be wrapped up in a recognition that something has to change to state from spiraling in on itself. Devastated from the record-setting winds of hurricane Ike that turned out the lights on 1.9 million as it blew through Ohio recently, and suffering from the economic body blows the state and many of its residents are forced to endure as jobs are lost, home foreclosures rise, state budget cuts are made and the rising costs for food and fuel shrink their moribund paychecks. With the road to recovery and prosperity long and steep,

Ohioans this year may decide to join four neighboring states -- Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Indiana -- and place their bet that betting will pay off for them and public officials, especially counties, who stand to benefit from those precious dollars Ohioans may lose hoping to hit the big one.

Opponents to casino-style gambling in Ohio include, ironically but not surprisingly, casino interests from other states. As any big business that doesn't want competition to encroach on their revenue stream, the No On 6 campaign (ballot Issue 6 is the casino issue) has filed a formal legal challenge, saying some of its circulators failed to fill out necessary paperwork.

Vote No Casinos, another opponent group, publicized a letter from the Lake County Board of Elections showing that three petition circulators are being investigated for signing off on signatures that they did not witness, and another circulator for being a convicted felon.

The tussle between payday lenders and their opponents, a group called Coalition for Responsible Lending, composed of groups ranging from those who champion the homeless to those who champion traditional business interests, like the Ohio Manufacturers Association, is also engaged in duking it out over the number and validity of signatures.

Short less than 56,000 good signatures, Ohioans for Financial Freedom, by state law, has another 10 days to secure the balance if they want to be on the ballot in November. Petitioners must gather valid signatures equaling at least 3 percent of the ballots cast in the 2006 gubernatorial election in at least 44 counties. So far, they've met that standard in 33 counties.    

Last week saw payday lenders capitulated to their opponents, agreeing to subtract 13,000 signatures from the 422,000 handed in in late August. Those forfeited signatures came about because petitions circulated by a California company that didn't file required paperwork prior to gathering voter signatures, along with other problems.

These administrative stumbles, as plentiful this year as in years past, could be solved if the General Assembly would establish a process whereby any petition circulator would first register with the state, which would impose a fee on them for the privilege of doing so. That fee would pay to verify the legitimacy of the company hired to circulate petitions, perform background checks on those people the company hired to actually gather signatures and then issue them a petition circulator ID card, complete with their picture, the name of the group they work for, a number specific to them, which they would then put on the petitions they managed so any official could identify them immediately, and take action if circumstances warranted.

Such a system would eliminate the constant see-sawing over petition details between rival groups on ballot issues.

John Michael Spinelli is a former Ohio Statehouse government and political reporter and business columnist. He now serves as the OhioNews Bureau Chief for ePluribus Media Journal. Find ONB archives here.
Photo credits: (c) 2008 AnHarris, istockphoto

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