Reply #1: Ohio Voters Sick and Tired of Rotten System—Will Reform by Ballot [View All]

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Ohio Voters Sick and Tired of Rotten System—Will Reform by Ballot

This was also in the NYT. Well, it’s about time, isn’t it.

Ohio Election Activists Say Voters Fed Up

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1073958

By JOHN McCARTHY Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Backers of three ballot issues to dramatically change Ohio elections said Tuesday that they are confident that voters are so sick of politics-as-usual that they will support the changes on Nov. 8.

Reform Ohio Now, a coalition of labor unions and Democrat-leaning activists, on Tuesday filed petitions with 521,000 signatures for each of three issues with Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's chief elections official.

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Backers say Ohioans need to take more control of their elections because of the current investment scandal involving majority Republicans at the Statehouse and an elections system they see as flawed.

"We, the citizens, are supposed to drive the system, not the politicians," said Jan Fleming of Uptown Progressives, a Columbus community activist group. "Elected officials now choose the voters, rather than the other way around."

The backers need 322,000 valid signatures of registered voters, or 10 percent of the total vote in the 2002 election for governor. The petitions will be sent this week or early next week to their counties of origin to verify that the signatures match those of registered voters, Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said. The counties will have about two weeks to verify them, he said.

Reform Ohio Now: http://reformohionow.org


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