Probe of pot petitions begins

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio’s elections chief named a special investigator Wednesday to review what he calls “significant disparities” in a marijuana legalization group’s ballot petitions and said he is subpoenaing the campaign’s director.

The announcement by Secretary of State Jon Husted is the latest show of force by the state’s Republican powerbrokers against ReponsibleOhio. The group seeks to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would mark one of the nation’s most significant leaps in marijuana policy, taking Ohio from a complete prohibition against cannabis use to legalization for both medical and recreational use.

In another development, Attorney General Mike DeWine on Wednesday rejected the petition summary for the Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment, which seeks to legalize marijuana for medical use in 2016.

Husted said special investigator David Bowers will explore why significant numbers of petition signatures collected by ResponsibleOhio were invalid and some physical forms didn’t match electronic copies. If such discrepancies are a product of fraud, they are subject to criminal penalties up to a fifth-degree felony.

“As with every possible case of election fraud, it is my responsibility to investigate and hold accountable anyone who may have cheapened the voice of all Ohioans by cheating the system,” he said in a statement.

Husted also said he planned to subpoena ResponsibleOhio executive director Ian James and records from his consulting firm, The Strategy Network.

James said in a statement that ResponsibleOhio followed the law and brought the discrepancies cited by Husted to his office’s attention.

ResponsibleOhio legal counsel Andy Douglas, a former Ohio Supreme Court ustice, said Husted “will have to answer for” his treatment of the campaign.