CRAWFORD COUNTY—Residents all over Crawford County are reporting being given misleading information in order to get them to sign a petition to put the issue of whether wind turbines can be placed around sites in Crawford County.

In May, Crawford County Commissioners voted to restrict the placement of wind turbines in unincorporated areas of Crawford County.

Proponents of wind turbines then began to accumulate signatures in order to put the matter on the ballot.

They began a vigorous campaign to gather the approximate 1200 signatures needed to place the matter in the hands of voters.

Citizens have reported to Crawford County Now the troubling behaviors of those Honey Creek Action employees who solicited signatures from registered voters.

One Bucyrus resident reported that he was visited at his home from a solicitor seeking his signature. He noted the man did not seem to be local. When he asked specifics about the proposed turbines, he was told they would be 75-100 feet high when the proposed turbines would actually be about 600 feet high (roughly half as high as the Empire State Building).

After the man repeatedly pressed the point, the employee insisted the height would be 75-100 feet high.

When asked where the turbines would be placed, the resident was shown a map and told the placement of the turbines would be in Sandusky Township.

A Galion woman told Crawford County Now she was approached by the same man twice but was told once he was from New York and once he was from Wisconsin. When she asked the employee if he had a permit to solicit in Galion, he told her he was in compliance with the law.

Crawford County Now confirmed with the Bucyrus Walmart that solicitors were asked to leave their parking lot as soon as customers made them aware they were being approached. It is Walmart’s Corporate policy that no soliciting of any is to be conducted in their parking lots.

Crawford County Now reached out to Tyler Fehrman, the Executive Director and Field Manager of Honey Creek Action and Apex Clean Energy, issued the following statement:

County Boards of Election are instructed by the Ohio Secretary of State that petitioners collecting signatures are not required to be Ohio residents. Additionally, case law has made it clear that any such state resident requirement is contrary to the Constitution of the United States.

Ohio’s requirement that a circulator be registered to vote and be an Ohio resident has been deemed unconstitutional by federal courts. See, e.g., Citizens in Charge v. Husted, Case No. 2:13-cv-00935 (S.D. Ohio, Mar. 16, 2015). Further, consistent with that established precedent, Ohio’s chief elections officer instructs county boards of elections that a circulator is not required to be an Ohio elector or an Ohio resident. See Chapter 13 of the Ohio Election Officials Manual, on page 364.

The signature collection effort is consistent with what the Crawford County Commissioners called for when they passed the resolution. Petitioning exercises a First Amendment right, and getting wind energy on the ballot allows Crawford County residents to exercise their right to vote on this as well, which is a good thing.

Finally, no one on the Honey Creek Action team would intentionally mislead anyone in order to obtain a signature.
The personnel collecting signatures have focused on speaking with folks about getting this matter on the ballot so that the entire county can have a vote, whether pro-wind or not.

They are equipped with training and talking points on the details of the Honey Creek Wind farm for the instances in which people have more questions about Honey Creek Wind in particular, and that training has contained true and accurate information.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Tyler Fehrman
Executive Director
Honey Creek Action