SECRETARY OF STATE HUSTED CERTIFIES SIGNATURES FOR REFERENDUM ON SENATE BILL 5
Petitioners have met Constitutional requirements to place issue on November ballot
COLUMBUS – Secretary of State Jon Husted today certified that petitioners seeking a referendum on Senate Bill 5 have collected 915,456 valid signatures, meeting the necessary requirements to place the issue on the 2011 November ballot. Petitioners needed 231,147 signatures or six percent of the total vote cast for Governor in 2010.
As part of the total number of signatures needed to place the measure on the ballot, petitioners also needed to collect signatures from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, and within each of those counties, to collect enough signatures equal to three percent of the total vote cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election, 2010.. Senate Bill 5 petitioners met this requirement in all 88 counties
Having met the requirements to place the issue on the ballot, the next step in the process is for the Ballot Board to convene to approve the ballot language that voters will consider in November. The Ballot Board is expected to meet in early August
This is good:
Senate Bill 5 petitioners met this requirement in all 88 counties
The fact that we met the 3% requirement in all 88 counties rather than the (minimum) of 44 counties that were required is good news, because the thinking is that indicates a working coalition in place all over the state to actually get the repeal passed. We’ll see.
Zifnab
People power, bitches.
Linda Featheringill
All 88 counties is good news, indeed. Obviously, a lot of people did a lot of work on this. Congratulations to them all.
And yes, as zifnab said, “People power, bitches.”
NonyNony
This part also strikes me as good news:
They needed 250K and they got 900K – over 3 times the number of signatures needed – as well as meeting the threshold in all 88 counties.
That suggests that there is already an organization in place in all 88 counties and that there is some level of grassroots support in all 88 counties. That’s all good in my eyes.
kay
The individual organizers are breathing a sigh of relief, I’m sure.
No one wants to be the lone “loser county”, all singled out :)
Lolis
I am so inspired by Ohio. I wish Texas had a labor movement.
gwangung
Heh.
I cannot see how ANYONE could see this as anything other than good news.
ruemara
You give me a lot of hope, Kay. I think this means a lot more than wonky types are giving it credit for. Regular working people are paying attention and putting shite aside.
kay
We have a teacher from Texas, Olivia, who worked really hard. And, no, you can’t have her back :)
NonyNony
@gwangung
Oh, I’ll bet King John is more than a bit irritated by it.
Citizen_X
I’m also in Texass, not Ohio. What was Senate Bill 5, again?
kay
Sorry. Of course you wouldn’t know.
Here ya go.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Citizen_X:
A public union busting bill that went further than the one in WI, in that it did not exclude public safety employees, so there were lots of police and firefighters, um, annoyed. The firefighters in particular were spectacularly abundant in the protests, complete with bagpipes.
OzoneR
Public referendums are always good in my book because they’re easier for progressives to win. You’re voting on a tangible issue, not a person, not a speech, not a list of issues on a Web site, but an actual platform.
So long as Obama doesn’t go and fuck it up by endorsing it. Though even then I’d bet it’ll still pass.
aisce
that’s odd. i thought you said progressives could never win anything, and it’s hopeless, and they should never try, etc.
hmm.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@OzoneR: As in WI, I think the President is plenty smart enough to let local issues stay local.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
OzoneR
I’d be more worried about the people who think Obama has to endorce it.
NonyNony
@OzoneR
Well, no. They’re good for progressives when the issue being voted on is a popular one that aligns with progressive stances. They’re awful for progressives when the issue being voted on is a popular one that does not align with progressive stances.
If public referendums were always good for progressives then California would not be a referendum disaster zone. And yet it is.
OzoneR
you thought wrong.
scav
Congrats to OH! but this seemed the sanest place to place this odd little OT nugget: Doubj’s Rupertdammerung? Silly old Economist went with Murdochdämmerung. So close and yet so far. . .
jibeaux
Good on ya, Ohio. I also read that repeal has somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 percentage points in polls over retaining the law. That sounds fanfuckingtastic. Have some fries with that overreach.
Pangloss
Is it just me, or are several of the once-beligerently obnoxious GOP governors (Walker, Christie, Scott, Kasich, etc.) starting to show hints of vulnerability in their rhetoric? Maybe they’re starting to take those approval ratings in the 20s and recall efforts to heart.
artem1s
yea for all the organizers! I am a little surprised to see all 88 counties represented. Usually labor is seen as NE OH thing.
The hard part now is getting ballot language that the voters understand. King John and his pals are already threatening to bust the ballot up into multiple issues pitting various interests against each other. This is likely to make the PR campaign and funding harder as well. Of course the opposition will use the most possible incendiary language to turn off voters. Here come the dog whistles.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Pangloss: We cannot recall King John as OH has no recall statute, but if he reads the polls he knows that there is a great deal of buyers remorse, especially from the traditionally GOP police and fire sectors.
NonyNony
@a hip hop artist from Idaho
And anyone who’s been listening to King John knows that he cares fuck-all about what people in Ohio think about anything and couldn’t give a tinker’s damn about his approval ratings.
He’s here to slash and burn the state. And if this gets people mad at him fuck them – he’s only got 4 years to sell off as much of the state as he can and destroy the rest. He’s got no time to care what the people who are going to actually live in the state when he’s done think about the job he’s doing.
Elie
Pangloss @ 22
I think you are right… we will see some shifting of the ground around some of these characters… almost makes me optimistic but I don’t want to celebrate prematurely..
Elie
Can someone tell me how to link to comments?
Still trying to figure it out..
thanks!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@NonyNony: You’re right – “if you don’t like what I’m doing, fuck you” has pretty much been his message since before his inauguration.
kc
Congrats, Kay! Good luck.
RalfW
Those #s are awesome. Do they portend a win? Dunno, as I’m sure no one else does. But it’s encouraging, in this otherwise dire week of US political insanity, that at a population greater than 3% of active voters in each and every one of Ohio’s 88 counties gives enough of a rip to sign a petition, and that the ground game existed to get that done.
Sends a big warning flare to the Koch Krazies to amp up their game, also, too.
Paul in KY
Way to go, Ohio!