Ohio’s top court rejects attempt to keep casino issue off ballot

By Marc Kovac

The secretary of state no longer has jurisdiction in the matter, the court said.

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by a Columbus-area horse-racing track to stop a casino issue from reaching the November ballot.

Scioto Downs had sought to force Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and county elections officials to investigate allegations that petition circulators committed fraud in collecting signatures and to invalidate questionable petitions.

Scioto alleged that casino-petition circulators misrepresented their identities and home addresses.

At least one was a convicted felon and, thus, ineligible to collect signatures, according to court documents.

But in its ruling Friday, the state’s high court noted that some of the questionable petitions were rejected by elections officials during the certification process. And justices ruled that Brunner and elections officials no longer had authority to invalidate others.

According to the decision, “The secretary of state and the boards have now completed their review of the sufficiency of the petitions and have timely certified their results in accordance with their constitutional and statutory duties. They have no additional duty or authority to further investigate and invalidate additional part-petitions and signatures following the expiration of the constitutional deadline.”

Brunner’s office earlier reported that the casino backers had submitted enough valid signatures to place the issue before voters. A total of 452,956 valid signatures had been submitted by the Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan, which needed 402,275 to reach the ballot. It submitted more than 850,000 signatures.

Backers say the casinos, to be located at specific sites in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo, will create more than 34,000 jobs and have an $11 billion economic impact from construction-related activities and the first five years of operations.

Additionally, they say the projects would provide $200 million in licensing fees and $650 million in tax revenues for the state, counties, cities and school districts.

Four previous casino issues have been rejected by voters, including one last November that would have established a location in southwestern Ohio.