Pot legalization group files new signatures in ballot effort

“We’ve been working all over the state of Ohio, mostly in non-metro counties, to ensure that we worked in places with higher (signature) validity rates”.

While Husted spokesman Josh Eck told The Dispatch that the office would remain open until 11:59 p.m. today if necessary, the secretary of state’s office didn’t respond to ResponsibleOhio’s inquiry about the extra hours.

A campaign to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational use in Ohio says it delivered 95,572 additional signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State Thursday. “I have long stated that voter fraud is rare, but it happens; and when it does, we will call out the guilty parties and hold them accountable”.

Husted said discrepancies also existed between hard-copy electronic petitions which ought to have been identical.

“Fraud and sloppiness have more in common than being the devastating cause of undermining voter confidence, they are illegal and will not be tolerated by my office”, said Husted on Wednesday.

Husted on Wednesday named a special investigator to look into the signature discrepancies and is subpoenaing the campaign’s director.

Husted’s tally from boards of elections on the first round showed 276,082 valid signatures statewide, or 39.7 percent of the 695,273 signatures from 73 counties submitted on June 30.

Organizers for ResponsibleOhio had to gather more signatures after the states elections chief said they fell short by 29,509 in meeting the states requirement of 305,591.

ResponsibleOhio said it will mount a legal challenge to signatures it says were not counted or were improperly invalidated during the initial petition filing.

The proposed “Marijuana Legalization Amendment” by ResponsibleOhio, which would legalize marijuana for medical and personal use by adults 21 years of age and older, has been met with criticism from state officials and many marijuana legalization supporters.

“We will not be silenced, will not be harassed, not cajoled into inaction, we are going to make sure we take this issue forward, we get this on the ballot”, said James.