COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A minimum wage petition lacks adequate signatures from Ohio rural counties because of racial harassment of circulators, delaying the effort until November 2025.

Probably.

Minutes after that initial announcement came late Wednesday afternoon, the group One Fair Wage backtracked and said vigorous internal legal discussions were taking place that could result in the petition being filed by today’s deadline after all.

Proposed constitutional amendments for this year’s fall ballot must be filed by midnight.

Supporters need 413,487 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters to qualify.

Backers of the minimum wage issue estimate they have more than 600,000 unverified signatures to submit.

But Ohio law also requires a signature minimum for at least 44 out of Ohio’s 88 counties. From each of those 44 counties, signatures must equal at least 5% of votes cast for governor in that county in the most recent election.

Minimum wage backers say they don’t yet meet that threshold.

The question: Can the shortfalls in rural counties be fixed in a 10-day period allowed under state law to “cure” signature shortages?

Or does that cure period only apply to meeting the overall petition minimum — not the individual county totals — possibly leading to the entire petition getting immediately tossed?

The prospect of losing months of work under the latter scenario prompted the initial decision to abandon the effort until 2025.

“After receiving our final turn-ins from across the state today, we have determined that we won’t make the 44-county requirement and will thus continue to collect signatures to be on the 2025 ballot,” One Fair Wage, which is leading similar efforts in multiple states.

“Unfortunately, as we reviewed the hundreds of thousands of signatures we collected, we found that the signature counts in rural counties confirmed our expectations of dampened signature gathering due to violence and intimidation toward our low-wage worker of color canvassers, who were verbally abused and harassed by those opposing raises for workers.”

A spokesman could not provide details on the racial confrontations in rural Ohio.

Initially, the petition signatures were to be filed around mid-afternoon. But that plan was derailed in part by Red, White and Boom. The secretary of state’s new office along the Scioto riverfront lies in the heart of the fireworks viewing area.

“Due to the unexpected traffic and road closures caused by today’s Festival in Columbus, we faced some physical and delays in delivering the signatures to the secretary of state’s office,” the group said.

“However, thanks to the dedication of our worker-led advocacy team, which has collected hundreds of thousands of signatures from all over the state, we are working until the last minute to ensure they are delivered and sorted to secure our place on the ballot in 2024. This has been our primary focus, and we remain committed to seeing it through.”

Chamber, restaurant owners celebrate ‘win’ for Ohio after petition drive apparently falls short

Former GOP Congressman Steve Stivers, president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber, called the issue’s apparently failure to qualify for the ballot “a win for Ohio.”

In an interview earlier in the day with ABC 6 News, he predicted the measure would have difficulty making it to a fall vote.

“They’ve had real trouble gathering signatures and I think it’s because the more people learn about it, the more concerns that Ohioans have about this proposal,” Stivers said.

“Number one, we already have a minimum wage in our Constitution. It’s indexed for inflation. And number two, people are worried about the cost of living and inflation. And they, I think the more they learn, they understand this will increase the cost of living.”

John Barker, president and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant & Hospitality Alliance, said in a statement: “Today is a victory for Ohioans and Ohio’s restaurant and hospitality community. The failure to submit enough signatures to eliminate the tipped wage, which is so valued by servers and bartenders, is a clear indication that Ohioans do not want outside special interest groups such as One Fair Wage changing our state’s constitution.”

Barker said the signature effort fell short “after voters heard the facts from everyone in our industry –- servers, bartenders, operators, suppliers, community leaders and diners.”

The proposed constitutional amendment would have raised the state minimum wage for non-tipped workers to $15 per hour from the current $10.35 by 2026.

The minimum wage for workers receiving tips would jump from $5.25 an hour to $15 by 2029.

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