Slots petition falls short of required signatures

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner says a petition to force a vote on the governor’s shelved plan to add slots at racetracks has fallen short of the required number of valid signatures.

Brunner’s office said Thursday that the petition by LetOhioVote.org had 214,301 valid signatures — 27,065 short of the minimum needed to put the plan to a vote in May.

LetOhioVote.org submitted 325,496 signatures to Brunner’s office in late December. After county election boards filtered out invalid signatures, 214,301 remained.

LetOhioVote.org spokesman Carlo LoParo says the group plans to submit 150,000 additional signatures collected since the initial filing.

LetOhioVote.org still has 10 days to gather additional signatures.