Reform Party Gets Ohio Presidential Slot

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AllPolitics, April 19) -- Texas billionaire Ross Perot's Reform Party qualified for the presidential ballot in Ohio today by collecting the needed 33,463 valid signatures of registered voters.

It's the ninth state where Perot's party has qualified, and Ohio political activists expect the feisty Texan will be the candidate. "If they're going to put any candidate on the ballot, it will be Ross Perot," Ohio Republican official Tom Whatman predicted to the Associated Press.

Reform Party officials remained vague: "He's not said yes, and he's not said no," sniffed Reform Party media director Sharon Holman.

Perot's Ohio drive was plagued by ballot irregularities. "This has probably been the most exhaustive process that we've encountered, and perhaps the most exhaustive in the history of the state of Ohio, with regard to the work that has gone into determining precisely the number of valid and invalid signatures," Ohio Secretary of State Bob Taft said.

Reform Party officials submitted 32,839 signatures last November, and another 2,000 were submitted in March.

Reform Party Gets Ohio Presidential Slot

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