Government & Politics

Group Gathering Petitions For Voter Reform Ballot Issue Gives Up Its Effort

The Statehouse News Bureau | By Jo Ingles,

Jo Ingles

Published June 18, 2020 at 4:37 PM EDT

A voter signs a petition for a signature gatherer working in Columbus last year.

A group that wanted to put voter reforms such as guaranteed 28 days of early voting, same day registration and voting and automatic registration at the BMV on the fall ballot has dropped its effort.

Getting more than 440,000 valid signatures needed by July 1 to put an issue on the November ballot is a challenge at any time. But Toni Webb with Ohioans for Secure and Fair Elections says it was just too much right now.

“It’s incredibly disappointing but who would have known to prepare for a global pandemic?" Webb asks.

A federal court recently ruled against the group’s request to extend the deadline to July 31. It also would have permitted the group to collect signatures online, something that has never been allowed before.

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Jo Ingles

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.

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Jo Ingles