Main Street

“Citizen Veto” of SB 5 on track

Two positive updates on the battle to repeal Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 and restore collective bargaining rights to 350,000 public employees.

First, the signature gathering efforts over the last month have been wildly successful. The group We Are Ohio announced that they have over 214,000 signatures out of the 231,149 required to get SB 5 on the ballot – that’s 93 percent!

“This is an unprecedented level of support from communities all across the state,” Fazekas said. “We continue to struggle to keep up with demand for petitions.”

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With more than 350,000 public workers impacted by the bill, even supporters have said they anticipate the opposition coalition will collect enough names to make the ballot. Fazekas said the group is confident it will meet its goal of 450,000 to 500,000 signatures, which must be gathered in at least 44 of 88 counties.

Given that the deadline is June 29, 2011, or ninety days since the effort was approved, it’s safe to say that the Citizen Veto is well on track.

In addition, despite the efforts of Gov. John Kasich and his allies to demonize public employees and convince voters that stripping rights is necessary to balancing the budget, Senate Bill 5 is fairly unpopular. A Quinnipiac poll from May 10-16 showed that 54 percent were in favor of repealing SB 5, while only 36 percent want it kept.

The challenge will be from those 10 percent who remain undecided – they are the ones who will be crucial once the Citizen Veto is on the ballot.