Secretary of State Jon Husted...
Petitions received for House Bill 194 Referendum
Elections will be administered under current law; early voting begins Tuesday, October 4, 2011. 
October 1, 2011 

COLUMBUS – Earlier this afternoon, petitioners seeking a referendum on House Bill 194 filed more than 318,000 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. Secretary Husted will direct the 88 county boards of election to have the validation of signatures completed after the November Election. 

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 are from 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)... click here. 

Secretary of State Directive to Boards of Elections Regarding the Examination and Verification of State Issue Petitions... click here. 

Procedure for a Statewide Referendum... click here.