Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Group Wants Slots Referendum Invalidated

January 13, 2010

A group representing Ohio's horseracing tracks said it was seeking to have more petitions for a slots referendum invalidated because they had been circulated by felons.

The Ohio Legacy Fund, following up on a similar request sent to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner on Dec. 21, said it had discovered several more felons had illegally collected signatures for the referendum sought by LetOhioVote.org. The latest letter, which said eight other circulators have felony records, asked the official to direct local election boards to invalidate the part petitions submitted by the individuals.

"We were surprised to learn that at least four of their supervisors and at least eight of their circulators apparently have felony records when Ohio law explicitly forbids signature collection by felons," Ohio Legacy Fund attorney C. David Paragas said in a statement. "We received hundreds of reports that their circulators were misrepresenting the purpose of the petitions, but we never expected that they would disregard election law so blatantly."

Carlo LoParo, spokesman for LetOhioVote.org, said the track owners' group had misinformation regarding the alleged felons. He said some of the people mentioned in the letter did not circulate petitions and another did not have a felony record.

The circulating firm hired by the anti-slots group, Direct Voice, Inc. of California, "requires all circulators to undergo comprehensive background screening for felonies," he said.

"We take the state's petition circulating laws very seriously and have in no way allowed any circulator to collect signatures who had a previous felony background," Mr. LoParo said.

Brunner spokesman Jeff Ortega said its up to the local election boards to review the petitions for validity, which they currently are doing.