Are We There Yet?

One of the most common questions we get is about the status of the petition effort. Have we met the required number of signatures yet? Or "How close are we to meeting the requirement?"
The short answer is, always assume NO. Keep collecting. The Committee is keeping the actual numbers mum for strategic reasons. But we know many signatures will be disallowed for various reasons so we need to get as many signatures as possible.

Recently, there were reports going around social media that we have met the petition signature requirment and are ready to proceed with getting it on the ballot. This is not true and probably comes from a misunderstanding of the petition process.

To get a petition started, Phase 1 involves the formation of a Committee (done), and the Committee then has to gather 1,000 signatures and submit them to the Ohio Attorney General. The AG looks at the wording of the proposed Constitutional Amendment (and probably some other things) and makes sure it's acceptable to move on to the second phase. This happened in May 2025. The AG gave his approval to move on the Phase 2.

Phase 2 is when we start collecting signatures to meet the requirements to get it on the ballot. That means we gather signatures from a MINIMUM of 10% of the number of people who voted for Governor in the last gubernatorial election (which was 2022). That number is 413,488. Keep in mind, that's an absolute MINIMUM. Since we know many signatures will be disqualified, we are aiming for at least 15%, which comes to a bit over 600,000 signatures.

So when you hear someone say the signature requirement has already been met, NO. It has not as of January 2026. Whoever is telling you that is confused or purposefully misleading you.

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