FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 29, 2011

SECRETARY OF STATE HUSTED RECEIVES PETITIONS FOR REFERENDUM ON SENATE BILL 5

COLUMBUS – Earlier today, petitioners seeking a referendum on Senate Bill 5 filed more than 51,000 part petitions containing a purported 1.3 million signatures with Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office. The Secretary of State’s office must now determine if petitioners have gathered the required number of valid signatures – 231,147 or six percent of the total vote cast for Governor in 2010. This process must be completed no later than 105 days prior to the General Election, which is July 26, 2011.

The Secretary of State’s office will process and catalog the petitions prior to shipping them to the county boards of elections, which are tasked with verifying that the signatures collected represent qualified electors of Ohio who are registered at the address provided.

As part of the total number of signatures needed to place the measure on the ballot, petitioners must also have collected signatures from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, and within each of those counties collected enough signatures equal to three percent of the total vote cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election, 2010.

Additional Information

2010 Governor's Race Percentage Chart (Includes County-by-County Breakdown)
www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/elections/electResultsMain/2010results/20101102percentage.aspx.

Secretary of State Directive to Boards of Elections Regarding the Examination and Verification of State Issue Petitions
www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/Upload/elections/directives/2011/Dir2011-17.pdf

Procedure for a Statewide Referendum
www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/elections/issues/StateReferendum.aspx

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For more information, please contact Matt McClellan at 614-995-2168 or mmcclellan@sos.state.oh.us.