DeWine certifies petition for amendment redefining marriage

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has certified the petition for the proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution which would repeal and replace the definition of marriage in the Ohio Constitution.

On March 26, 2012, the Ohio Attorney General's Office received a written petition to add and repeal language to the Ohio Constitution from the committee to represent the petitioners.

The submission was certified today as containing both the necessary 1,000 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters and a "fair and truthful" summary of the proposed amendment.

"Without passing on the advisability of the approval or rejection of the measure to be referred… I hereby certify that the summary is a fair and truthful statement of the proposed constitutional amendment," Attorney General DeWine stated in a letter to the petitioners.

Once the summary language and initial signatures are certified the Ohio Ballot Board must determine if the amendment contains a single or multiple issues.

The petitioners must then collect signatures in 44 of Ohio's 88 counties, equal to 5 percent of the total vote cast in the county for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election.

Total signatures collected statewide must also equal 10 percent of the vote cast for the office of governor in the last gubernatorial election.

The full text of the letter and of the amendment petitions may be found at
www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/ballotinitiatives.