Minimum wage petitions 114 signatures short for ballot

YOUNGSTOWN

A proposed charter amendment, backed by a group of Youngstown Democrats, to increase the hourly minimum wage in the city to $10.10 came up 114 valid signatures short of getting on the ballot.

The group submitted 59 petitions with 1,751 signatures. It needed 1,259 of the signatures to be valid to be put in front of city voters. However, the Mahoning County Board of Elections, which checked the petitions a third time Wednesday, found only 1,145 valid signatures, said Thomas McCabe, its deputy director.

Of the 606 signatures disqualified by the board, McCabe said:

192 aren’t registered to vote.

141 don’t live in Youngstown.

101 either printed their names or the signature on the petitions didn’t match the signature on voter registration cards.

90 weren’t registered at the address on file at the board.

49 were “illegible” with board workers unable to read either the signed name, address or both.

30 signed petitions twice, which, when there are many petitions being circulated, isn’t unusual.

Three names were crossed out by the group.

The proposal wanted to raise the city’s hourly minimum wage – it’s $8.10 as in the rest of Ohio while the national amount is $7.25 – to $10.10 effective Jan. 1.

Read more about the matter in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.