The Ohio Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee will vote on Wednesday, October 2, on SB 193. This is the bill that, if passed as introduced, would require the state’s four minor parties to submit approximately 56,000 valid signatures by early July 2014, if they wish to be on the ballot in 2014. The Committee contains eleven Senators, which is one-third of the entire membership of the Senate. The Committee has 8 Republicans and 3 Democrats.

On October 1, the committee heard Libertarian Party and Green Party witnesses, in a hearing that lasted approximately 90 minutes. Bill Redpath, a former Libertarian Party national chair who knows a great deal about ballot access, testified against the bill. When the bill’s sponsor asked why, if the Libertarian Party is growing, it can’t get 56,000 valid signatures, Redpath pointed out that none of the leading 2012 Republican presidential candidates except Mitt Romney and Ron Paul were able to get the required 10,000 signatures to get on the Virginia Republican presidential primary.