Proposed Granville ballot issue to allow Sunday liquor sales at all licensed establishments rejected by elections board

A proposed ballot issue asking Granville voters to consider allowing liquor permit holders to sell alcohol on Sundays was rejected Tuesday by the Licking County Board of Elections.

“The Granville ballot language does not meet what the secretary of state and the Ohio Revised Code say they should do,” Brian Mead, elections board director, told the board during its monthly meeting.

He said that Granville submitted an earlier version, and elections officials told the village then that it didn’t pass muster. He said that Granville then “tweaked it a bit, but the state kicked it out, and we were asked to consult with the prosecutor’s office,” which provides legal services for county offices.

Bryce Ramsay, assistant prosecuting attorney for the Licking County prosecutor’s office, recommended removing the issue from the Nov. 5 ballot because he said the secretary of state’s office said that Granville didn’t follow the proper petition process, and that under state law, such an issue must be submitted to the electors of the precinct “as designated in a valid petition.”

Granville Village Council approved an ordinance on July 17 asking the elections board to put this question to voters in all three village precincts: “Shall the sale of intoxicating liquor, of the same types as may be legally sold in all precincts (precincts A, B and C) on other days of the week, be permitted in the Village of Granville, OH, for consumption on the premises where sold on Sunday?”

Village Manager Herb Koehler said the goal was to remove the burden and cost for individual business owners to petition to put the issue on the ballot for each business seeking Sunday sales. Typically, a business with a liquor permit would pass a petition, or hire someone to do it, and seek approval for Sunday sales at a specific address.

Koehler said after hiring a lawyer and working through the prescribed process, it can cost a small business several thousand dollars.

“I’m going to speculate that this is such a rare request that no one really knows what to do with it,” Koehler said. “We worked with an elections attorney to craft the legislation, but apparently it wasn’t good enough.”

The elections board voted unanimously to reject the Granville issue.

At this point, Koehler said, it’s too late to regroup and get something on the November ballot.

“We’ll sit down with our attorney to consider next steps,” he said.

Mead noted during the elections board meeting that Jersey Township – home to about 2,557 people between Alexandria and New Albany – had the same idea and went about it in a very different way, and its election issue was approved by the secretary of state’s office and the Licking County Elections Board.

The township issue asks voters to approve a “local liquor option for community facility in a Jersey Township revitalization district.”

The ballot language asks voters: “Shall the sale of beer and intoxicating liquor be permitted on all days of the week, including Sunday, at the Jersey Township Revitalization District, a community facility as defined (by state law), and generally located” in a geographic area defined by specific boundaries – roads, mostly – and including specific parcels of land.

Koehler said he had not seen the Jersey Township issue and would review it.

That issue was among three the village requested for the November ballot. The other two ask voters to approve charter amendments that would require the planning commission and Board of Zoning and Building Appeals to each consist of seven members. And voters served by the Granville Public Library can expect to see a request for a property tax renewal and increase of 1.25 mills for five years for library operating expenses.

And all Licking County voters will be asked to consider renewal of a 1.2-mill property tax for five years to provide and maintain services or facilities for senior citizens.

The final version of the Licking County ballot will be set by Sept. 20. At this point, the draft indicates that beyond State Issue 1, which would remove politicians from the process of drawing Ohio General Assembly and Ohio Congressional districts and place that task in the hands of a 15-member bi-partisan commission, voters in Licking County communities will see a total of 47 issues on the November ballot. 

Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.