FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 14, 2011

SECRETARY OF STATE HUSTED: PROPOSED REFERENDUM ON HOUSE BILL 194 REQUIRES ADDITIONAL SIGNATURES
Petitioners only met portion of requirements to place issue on November 2012 ballot and will have 10 additional days to fulfill constitutional obligations.

COLUMBUS –Secretary of State Jon Husted today certified that petitioners seeking a referendum on House Bill 194 have collected 221,572 valid signatures statewide, falling to meet the necessary requirements to place the issue on the 2012 November ballot. Petitioners submitted 333,063 total signatures and needed 231,150 valid 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 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. Petitioners seeking a referendum on HB 194 met or exceeded the three percent threshold in 52 counties.

Having failed to meet all of the constitutional requirements to place the issue on the ballot, petitioners will be given 10 additional days to make up the difference. Additional signatures must be submitted to the Secretary of State’s office no later than Thursday, November 24, 2011.

Additional Information

Secretary of State Certification Letter (PDF)

2010 Governor's Race Percentage Chart (Includes County-by-County Breakdown)

Procedure for a Statewide Referendum

-30-

For more information, please contact Matt McClellan at 614-995-2168 or mmcclellan@ohiosecretaryofstate.gov.