EPluribus Media calls for ballot initiative reform
September 25, 2008 | COHHIO, Center for Responsible Lending, Ohio, industry, industry critics, states | Comments (0)John Michael Spinelli thinks new laws need to be enacted to change the way Ohio’s signature gathering works:
Last week saw payday lenders capitulated to their opponents, agreeing to subtract 13,000 signatures from the 422,000 handed in in late August. Those forfeited signatures came about because petitions circulated by a California company that didn’t file required paperwork prior to gathering voter signatures, along with other problems.
These administrative stumbles, as plentiful this year as in years past, could be solved if the General Assembly would establish a process whereby any petition circulator would first register with the state, which would impose a fee on them for the privilege of doing so. That fee would pay to verify the legitimacy of the company hired to circulate petitions, perform background checks on those people the company hired to actually gather signatures and then issue them a petition circulator ID card, complete with their picture, the name of the group they work for, a number specific to them, which they would then put on the petitions they managed so any official could identify them immediately, and take action if circumstances warranted.
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