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Published: November 4, 2007 5:23 a.m.

Sex club proposal stripped from ballot

By Becky Manley
The Journal Gazette
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While at the polls Tuesday, Ohio voters may see a controversial referendum concerning sexually oriented businesses on the ballot, but they won’t have the chance to vote either for or against the issue.

Jennifer Brunner, Ohio secretary of state, notified the state’s local election boards Thursday that the group pushing to let voters decide on restrictions at sexually oriented businesses failed to get enough signatures to let the issue remain on the ballot.

Brunner’s letter instructs election workers to post notices at polling locations saying votes won’t be counted and to hand out notices with absent voter ballots.

Also, computer tabulation programs must be reprogrammed not to count votes for the issue.

The issue asked voters whether Senate Bill 16 should be approved, according to a copy of a Van Wert County ballot.

Although Ohio lawmakers passed the bill this year and it was set to go into effect in September, a political action committee delayed the implementation of the law by pushing for a referendum, according to Patrick Gallaway, director of communications for Brunner’s office.

In addition to forbidding sexually oriented entertainment between midnight and 6 a.m., the bill prohibits customers and employees who are not immediate family members from touching while employees are nude or partly clad.

It also established misdemeanor criminal offenses for violating the restrictions.

For the issue to have remained on the ballot, referendum supporters needed more than 241,000 valid signatures, officials said. The group gathered only about 181,000 valid signatures.

Many signatures the group gathered were declared invalid by state officials because either the petition signers weren’t registered voters or the addresses listed on petitions didn’t match voter registration information, Gallaway said.

The final blow to referendum supporters came from the Ohio Supreme Court, which supported Brunner’s interpretation of election law, court documents said.

Since the referendum failed, Gallaway said the law restricting hours and activities at sexually oriented businesses is effective.

bmanley@jg.net