Columbus - Yes should mean yes, and no should mean no, at least when it comes to asking voters whether they want slot machines at Ohio's horse-racing tracks, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell said yesterday.
Blackwell wrote to Senate leaders complaining about a proposed ballot question that the House inserted into the state budget bill two weeks ago.
The question would ask voters in a November referendum if slot machines should be prohibited, requiring a "yes" vote to oppose slot machines and a "no" vote to support them.
"I read the ballot language proposed in the bill to be deceptive and misleading," Blackwell said in his letter.
"I am seriously concerned that the language is likely to cause voters to mistakenly vote opposite the way they intend to vote."
The House-approved budget bill would increase the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent.
The increase would be rescinded after a year if voters approve up to 2,500 slot machines at each of Ohio's seven horse-racing tracks.
The proposed ballot question assumes that the state already has the authority to install slot machines at racetracks, based on a legal opinion by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, said Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican who worked on the House package.
Based on that opinion, "we have worded it in the only fair way to word it," Seitz said.
The bill is now before the Senate Finance Committee, which is scheduled to begin hearings today. Chairman Bill Harris, an Ashland Republican, said he also finds the ballot question confusing.
"I think we'll look at the language, and we'll be looking to the secretary of the state for his recommendation," Harris said.
Senators, however, are divided on the larger question of whether they would support any effort to expand gambling on Ohio.
"If it's approved by the voters, I won't be there playing the machines," Harris said. "But that's what our system is about, when the majority speaks."
Other majority Republicans, along with Gov. Bob Taft, oppose slot machines.
"That's bottom feeding for economic development," said Sen. Ron Amstutz, a Wooster Republican and a member of the Finance Committee. "They're like carp."
Source: www.cleveland.com
Stephen Ohlemacher
sohlemacher@plaind.com, 1-800-228-8272
Plain Dealer Bureau
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