Marijuana issue for Ohio ballot short on signatures

COLUMBUS — The group behind a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana use in Ohio has until July 30 to gather nearly 30,000 more signatures, after its initial petition submission fell short of the requirement to qualify for the November ballot.

Local elections officials validated 276,082 of the 695,273 signatures collected by ResponsibleOhio. The total is short of the 305,591 needed to place the “Marijuana Legalization Amendment” before voters.

The group plans to collect the needed signatures.

In Mahoning County, 5,290 signatures were valid with 6,561 not valid. In Trumbull County, 3,054 were valid with 3,600 invalid. In Columbiana County, 176 were valid and 150 were invalid.