This three-and-one-half minute you tube describes the petition-gathering campaign conducted in Ohio in August and September to put HB 194 to a referendum. Opponents of the bill collected 318,240 signatures in only five weeks. Assuming the petition has enough valid signatures, HB 194 can’t go into effect until after voters vote on it, in November 2012.

HB 194 is the bill that supposedly restored a constitutional ballot access law for minor parties, by changing the deadline from four months before the primary, to three months before the primary. Because the old law had been held unconstitutional, passage of HB 194 was a great defeat for minor parties, because it gave the Secretary of State an excuse to start imposing petitions again. Of course there were many other law changes in the bill, many of which were fiercely opposed the the Ohio Democratic Party and its labor allies. The bill made it more difficult for voters to cast an early vote, and put new restrictions on provisional ballots. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link. The you tube is associated with President Obama’s re-election campaign, but the content of the you tube only deals with the referendum petition.

On October 5, Americans Elect announced that it is about to start circulating its petition to be a party in Tennessee. See this story. If the group succeeds, it will be the first time any group has successfully completed the Tennessee party petition since 1968.

The old procedure was held unconstitutional in 2010, but the 2011 legislature made only miniscule improvements. The legislature did not reduce the number of signtures, which is 40,042 (2.5% of the 2010 gubernatorial vote). The legislature moved the petition deadline from March to April. A lawsuit now pending in U.S. District Court, filed by the Constitution and Green Parties, alleges that the early April petition deadline is still too early.