Strip club owners submit more signatures

COLUMBUS (AP) — A group representing strip club owners said Friday it submitted an additional 230,000 signatures in an attempt to give voters a chance to overturn a law that prohibits patrons from touching strippers and halts nude dancing after midnight.

The signatures will be reviewed to determine if they are those of registered Ohio voters, said Jeff Ortega, spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. A report is expected to be issued by Oct. 15.

The Vote No on Issue 1 Campaign needs at least 241,366 — a number that equals 6 percent of the total vote cast in the 2006 governor’s race — to place the issue on the November ballot.

Last month, the group submitted 125,430 valid signatures and was given 10 additional days to make up the deficiency.

The new restrictions on strip clubs were passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in May and allowed to become law by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland without his signature.

Citizens for Community Values, a Cincinnati-based conservative group that pushed for the new law, argues that the restrictions will reduce crimes such as prostitution and illegal drug use and decrease blight in neighborhoods where strip clubs operate.