Late last year, the Ohio legislature passed a new method to invalidate signatures on petitions. The law requires that circulators, if paid, specify who employed them to circulate the petition. On May 5, a state court construed the new law strictly, and said that 44,000 signatures on an initiative petition are invalid because the circulators filled out that question incorrectly. In re Protest of Evans, 06-ms-0133, Franklin Co. Common Pleas Court. The petition was initiated by the American Cancer Society, to propose to the voters an anti-smoking law. The circulators listed the American Cancer Society as their employer, but the court said the true circulator is the paid petition firm that contracted with the American Cancer Society, and that the circulators should have filled in “Arno”, the name of that professional circulation contracter.
What a pain in the ass! If the United Nations sent overseers to observe Ohio elections I believe the Iranians would have a field day with the news coverage. C’mon Ohio… get you stuff together and let people have a choice!
While U.S. military personnel are dying in Iraq, allegedly to “bring democracy,” politicians and bureaucrats are sneaking and conniving and conspiring to deny any semblance of democracy in the United States.
What difference does it make who circulated the petition or whether or not the petition circulator was paid or who paid the petition circulator? The only thing that matters is whether or not the signatures on the petition are valid. This is just more BS to make it more difficult to put stuff on the ballot.
Who paid who to do what has absolutely nothing to do with the contents of the petition. If the signers agreed with the petition enough to sign it, that’s what matters. This has got to be about the most ignorant thing I’ve ever heard of… and I’ve heard some pretty ignorant things.
Anyone in Ohio care to pass around a petition to get that changed? I wonder what the chances are that their hard work would be dismissed on some meaningless technicality. 🙁