Pubdate: Sat, 12 Jul 2014
Source: Vindicator, The (Youngstown, OH)
Copyright: 2014 The Vindicator
Contact:  http://www.vindy.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3298
Author: Marc Kovac
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?197 (Marijuana - Medicinal - Ohio)

OHIO BALLOT INITIATIVES LOSE STEAM

Citizen proponents of various constitutional amendments, law changes,
policy proposals and such must place their hopes and dreams on the
back burners for another year, with none opting to submit signatures
to push issues before voters in November as of this month's deadline.

Backers of the Ohio Voters Bill of Rights said they had about 100,000
signatures of the 380,000-plus required to place their constitutional
amendment before voters.

They say they'll continue collecting signatures through the summer,
with an eye toward November 2015. They also plan to open a Columbus
office dedicated to the effort and organize a fall conference on
election laws.

Proponents of legalizing marijuana for medical uses indicated they
were short of the signature counts, too, and would look to next year.

"The signatures collected will still be viable for our revised goal of
ballot qualification this time next year," John Pardee, president of
the Ohio Rights Group, said in a released statement.

"... Our work will continue this year into the next, raising
awareness, building our coalition and pursuing every possible
opportunity for reform from working with the Legislature to sponsoring
local and state ballot initiatives and, as always, standing up for the
rights of Ohioans who continue to be victimized by this outdated law
prohibiting access to the safest and most widely effective therapy on
the planet."

A clean-energy initiative that was initially certified by the attorney
general more than two years ago has offered a couple of different
versions of its proposed ballot issue since then, including a new one
last month.

The group behind a proposed constitutional amendment to repeal Ohio's
ban on gay marriage has said it has more than enough signatures to
place its initial issue before voters. But FreedomOhio opted to begin
circulating new petitions with slightly different language, restarting
the process and pushing their effort past 2014.

There hasn't been a lot of talk about a right-to-work ballot issue,
aimed at blocking mandatory union membership and dues payments. One of
the petitioners behind that effort has moved out of state.

Combined, that means voters can let loose sighs of relief and not have
to figure out how to vote on hot-button offerings as part of an
already-packed gubernatorial-year ballot.
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MAP posted-by: Matt