Anti-SB 5 initiative gets 1,388 signatures

COLUMBUS — The Van Wert County Board of Elections validated 1,388 signatures to Repeal SB 5, legislation called by its detractors an unfair attack on employee rights and worker safety. Only 297 signatures were required to meet 3 percent of the total vote in the last gubernatorial election in Van Wert County.

According to this information from the Van Wert County Board of Elections, We Are Ohio has received enough signatures in Van Wert County to place the citizen’s veto on the November 8 ballot.

“The historic number of signatures collected shows the broad-based enthusiasm behind repealing SB 5”, said Melissa Fazekas, spokeswoman for We Are Ohio. “Nearly 1.3 million Ohioans signed petitions to show their support for stopping the attack on working families.

“They understand that SB 5 goes too far and that the extreme politicians who supported SB 5 also exempted themselves from the bill,” Fazekas added. “It is clear to many Ohioans that firefighters, police officers, teachers and nurses are not the enemy. We Are Ohio and our more than 10,000 volunteers sincerely appreciate the hard work of all the county board of elections officials and we look forward to receiving official ballot placement from the Ohio Secretary of State.”

On June 29, thousands of volunteers with We Are Ohio marched in downtown Columbus to the Ohio Secretary of State office to deliver 1,298,301 signatures to repeal SB 5.

We Are Ohio volunteers collected more signatures than any other petition drive in Ohio history. The citizen-driven petition drive exceeded the 3 percent threshold and collected at least 6 percent, or double the amount required by Ohio law in all 88 counties.

We Are Ohio is a citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition that has come together to repeal SB 5, the unfair attack on employee rights and worker safety. We Are Ohio includes public and private sector workers and employees, police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, pastors, small business owners, Republicans and Democrats, local elected officials and business leaders, students, Moms, Dads, family members, and your neighbors.