Step 4: Petitioner Must Notify Permit Holders

After receiving the list of permit holders affected by the local option questions, the petitioner must then notify those permit holders to let the permit holder(s) know that a local option petition is being circulated that may affect their permit privileges.  Within five (5) days of receiving the list of liquor permit holders who would be affected by the question(s) from the Division of Liquor Control, the petitioner must notify each permit holder named on the list by certified mail, using Form 5-M provided by the board of elections. This form is intended to notify the permit holder that a petition is being circulated that might affect the permit holder’s ability to sell alcohol.

Petitioners who think they can skirt this step and save a little money are mistaken! In addition to the notice required of the petitioner to affected permit holders, the board of elections is also required to send a similar notice upon receipt of the local option petition. Failure by the petitioner to notice permit holders in the prescribed manner and time will surely result in a challenge to the validity of the petitions and could cause the board of election to remove the questions from the ballot upon a hearing requested by the affected permit holders.

Form 5-M below must be completed by the petitioner and sent via certified mail based upon the information sent to the petitioner by the Ohio Division of Liquor Control and containing notice of the question or questions being submitted on the various local option petition forms.  The question(s) should be completed on Form 5-M just as the petitioner completed the question(s) on the local option petitions prior to collecting voter signatures. If there are no permit holders affected by the question(s) to be submitted then there is no one to notify.

Form 5-M (Petitioners’ Notice to Permit Holders – page 1)

WWW ohioliquoroptions.com

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