The road for the referendum to overturn the Bellefontaine City Council’s prohibition on the sale of recreational, adult-use marijuana in the city remains open, as the city auditor last week turned over to the Logan County Board of Elections a petition calling for the referendum.
Ohio election law states that the Logan County Board of Elections is now charged to certify that at least 363 – 10 percent of the total number of Bellefontaine voters who cast ballots in the most recent gubernatorial election – of the 440 signatures on the petition are valid, registered voters who reside within the city limits.
Board of Election employees must go through the petition name-by-name and check the signatures against the voter registration rolls. The results of the certification process is expected to be presented to the four-member Board of Elections – Chairman Steve Fansler, Kathy Clark, Ranae Lentz and Rob Fulton – at its regular meeting in May.
Should the petition contain 363 valid signatures, the referendum will be returned to the City Auditor’s office, who must then forward it to the Ohio Secretary of State, who will place it on the Bellefontaine ballots in the November election.
