Last month, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) signed an anti-union bill drastically restricting collective bargaining rights in that state. Yet, as ThinkProgress explained after it was signed, Ohio law gives the voters 90 days to force a referendum on the law if they can collect enough signatures supporting Ohio’s workers. According to the organizers of that petition drive, they are now 93 percent of the way to achieving this goal after just one month of signature gathering:
Today, at a press conference in Columbus, We Are Ohio released its first set of preliminary data from the field regarding the total number of petition signatures gathered thus far.
“We are pleased to report 214,399 signatures have been collected in the first month,” said Melissa Fazekas, spokeswoman for We Are Ohio. “The unprecedented level of support from communities all across the state is staggering. While we continue to struggle to keep up with demand for petitions, we know this campaign is a marathon, not a sprint. We believe these early numbers will only serve to motivate our supporters to collect more signatures to ensure we reach the threshold of 231,149 valid signatures.”
If this petition drive succeeds, which appears exceedingly likely, than Kasich’s attack on Ohio workers will not take effect until after the voters have an opportunity to veto it next November. If a majority of Ohio’s voters oppose the law in November, the law will be void. Moreover, a recent poll suggests that the law will not survive a referendum. 54 percent of Ohio voters want the law repealed, and only 36 percent want to keep it.
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