Boards of election across Ohio have until July 20 to verify petition signatures that would put abortion rights and legalized recreational marijuana on the ballot in November.
Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom and Protect Choice Ohio delivered more than 700,000 signatures to Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Wednesday, the deadline to submit petitions to continue the push to make the November ballot.
LaRose said he would now send those signatures to county boards of elections to verify. The group needs 413,000 – 10% of the total vote in the last gubernatorial election – verified signatures to place adding a right to abortion to the state’s constitution on the ballot.
The standards for verification include whether each signer is registered to vote in the county, whether the signatures are genuine, whether any person signed more than once, and whether the petition papers include all of the required information, including the circulator’s statement.
LaRose has until July 25 to decide if the issue will make the ballot.
