As long as enough valid signatures are on petitions, Ohio voters will have two statewide issues — abortion rights and legalization of recreational marijuana — to consider on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The signature validity part of the equation is often quite a task. That’s because if people who sign do so in the wrong county, aren’t registered to vote or print their names, among other conditions, those signatures are invalidated or questioned.

The timing of reviewing the signatures by county boards of elections for the two issues is challenging because deadline to certify the validity is July 20 — less than two weeks away. Meanwhile election officials start early voting for an Aug. 8 statewide special election to change the threshold to pass constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60 percent.

As of Thursday afternoon, county boards hadn’t received the petitions as they were submitted a day prior. Boards only received the total number of signatures for each proposal without the actual petitions.

For the abortion constitutional amendment, 13,379 signatures come from Mahoning County residents and 11,161 from Trumbull County.

For the marijuana legalization initiative statute, there are 3,536 signatures to check in Mahoning and 2,757 in Trumbull.

An initiative statute is different than a constitutional amendment in that it wouldn’t be impacted by the 60 percent threshold if that proposal passes in August, and an initiative could be repealed by the state Legislature, which opposes legalizing recreational marijuana.

“It’s going to be a crazy year because of the (constitutional amendment threshold) issue in August,” Melissa Wasko, deputy director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, said of checking signatures. “We have to review every signature for validity while we’re preparing for August and we’re preparing for November and the following year” with a planned March primary.

Wasko said: “It adds to the crush of the constant deadlines. It’s a daily grind.”

Edrea Mientkiewicz, deputy director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, said: “We will get it done whether it takes working 12- 16-hour days. But it’s very challenging to the boards of elections. When (legislators) said there would be no more August elections because of the strain it puts on staff, they then changed their minds. It is what it is.”

Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the group that backs the abortion constitutional amendment, submitted petitions with 710,131 signatures. It needs at least 413,487 to be valid to get on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The ballot language reads: “Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.”

It also bans the state from interfering with that right except for “widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care.”

It adds: “Abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability. But in no case may such an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.”

Fetal viability is usually around the 22nd to 24th week of pregnancy and was the Roe v. Wade standard.

Lauren Blauvelt and Kellie Copeland of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights said in a joint statement: “We take a huge step forward in the fight for abortion access and reproduction freedom for all, to ensure that Ohioans and the families can make their own health care decisions without government interference.”

Amy Natoce, spokeswoman for Protect Women Ohio, which opposes the constitutional amendment, called it an “extreme anti-parent amendment.” She also called it an attempt “to hijack Ohio’s constitution to further” a “radical agenda.”

The marijuana initiative needed 124,046 valid signatures.

The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted 222,198 signatures.

The proposal would permit those at least 21 years old to buy and possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and 15 grams of concentrates as well as allow them to grow up to six marijuana plants individually but no more than 12 in a household.

If the initiative is approved, the state Legislature has the ability to repeal or change it.

Those backing the initiative say they are confident it will overwhelmingly pass and aren’t worried about legislative action.

dskolnick@vindy.com