Ever wondered how many people are actually against smoking in public places(are antis)?

The people of Ohio voted on the smoking ban issue.

In 2006 there were 11,478,000 people in Ohio.
76% are over 18 = 8,723,280

Smokers are 22.4% of adults = 1,954,015

30% of adults voted = 2,616,984

56% voted yes = 1,465,511 = 16.8% of adults

People that are smokers or did not care about issue enough to vote = 83.2%

Antis are only 16.8% of adult population in Ohio.

The are 25% fewer antis in Ohio than there are smokers!!![/

Antis are the true minority!!

No wonder businesses have closed and will continue to do so, you can not replace 22.4% with 16.8% and make money.

Gary K.

NO-Hi-O, ...something I am familiar with.

I have received little or no response from my correspondence to all of the members of the Ohio General Assembly and other “authorities” so designated as representing the individual citizens of the state of Ohio. I'm not sure why they're called representatives, since they clearly don't represent me.
Of the clichéd platitudes that I have received, a favorite within the media and certainly a favorite of the proponents of liberty restricting legislation throughout the state, claims that “the overwhelming majority” approves of Issue 5.

Issue 5, - "The Smoke Free Workplace Act" did not pass by an “overwhelming margin”
Only 56.04% of registered voters in Ohio bothered to vote at all during the November 2006 election process.
This equates to only 30.15% of all registered voters approving of this assault on personal liberty, and of the petitioned authority to usurp the rights of property owners, and allow legal discrimination against a minority of their neighbors.
Add to this the fact that Issue 5 FAILED in 16 of Ohio’s 88 counties, and the on-going grossly exaggerated qualifying statement of “overwhelming” used by both the legislature and the media ad nauseam, becomes frighteningly disturbing.
A lie by omission is still a lie, and is even more egregious if intentionally designed to promote an even larger fraud.
Beyond the typical poor voter turn-out; Issue 5 passed by the noted slim margin in no small part due to the petition and ballot language containing false and misleading text deliberately worded in such a way as to imply that the necessity for the law was unquestionable when presented to the general public for consideration of approval.

LightningBoy: "I'm not sure why they're called representatives, since they clearly don't represent me."

If you had a few million to spread around, then they'd represent you.

Of course, if you had a few million to spread around, you wouldn't be concerned about smoking bans. You'd have private clubs and parties where you could drink and smoke with your friends. You could do as you pleased in the back of your limo. You could smoke while working in your huge private office.

You could do anything you liked, including making the rest of us do as you liked, too.

Sir,
My numbers were wrong.
From what you say:
56% of eligible voters voted.
54% voted for the ban.
Thus,30% of eligible voters voted for the ban.

My about 17% was way low; however, at 30% antis are still only a minority.

70% of voters either voted 'NO' or did not care enough to vote either way.

Please correct me if you find these numbers to be wrong.

My belief is 5 per cent are 'hard' core antis

In 2006 Ohio population(adults) = 8.61 million

In 2006 Ohio registered voters = 7.86 million

In 2006 registered voters are 90% of adult population.

In 2006 30% of registered voters voted for Issue 5

30% of 90% = 27%

Thus, only 27% of adults in Ohio voted for the smoking ban.

73% either voted no or did not care enough about the issue to vote one way or the other.

Antis are a minority.

Minority rule is called 'TYRANNY'!!!!!

Nobody ever listens to me in other states, but-EVERY time a statewide smoker ban is passed by 'the will of the people'-on the ballot-it is ALWAYS DONE DURING AN 'OFF' ELECTION YEAR, thus insuring the lowest turnout possible. The Nazis and rabid smoker-haters organize, run ads, and turn out to vote in droves, and they're passed. Do some history checking-every one that's passed by politicians is done right after election, every one on the ballot is during an 'off' (non-presidential) year. This is for statewide bans.

Dave Clark,
I haven't checked, but I believe you are likely correct.
gkayser30, You're close enough.

The problem in Ohio was that instead of fighting to prevent the passage of Issue 5, there was a second group that also circulated a petition for a less restrictive ban that would have required amending the Ohio Constitution.
The result was that no matter how the vote turned out, there was going to be a ban.
You had a choice, ...or at least the voters were led to believe they had to make a choice between Issue 4, promoted by "SmokeLess Ohio", and Issue 5, promoted by "SmokeFree Ohio".
Both sides campaigned urging a vote for their preferred form of prohibition without ever mentioning that there was no obligation to vote for either version.
If neither issue had received even one vote, there would be no ban in place now.
Just my personal opinion of course, but the fight against the ban in Ohio was poorly planned and executed. When the opponents of the ACS sponsored Issue 5 ban decided to place a competing initiative on the ballot, they guaranteed a ban would be in place. The resources for that less restrictive form of prohibition could have been put to much better use in directly opposing the ACS sponsored lie.
Just my $0.02

Let's take a look at Arizona.

http://www.azsos.gov/releases/2006/pressrelease08.htm
January 1, 2006 a total of 2,624,559 registered voters.

Nonsmokers are 81.8% of the Az. population, so there are 2,146,889 registered nonsmokers.


The Census 2000 data announced by the Arizona Department of Economic Security reports the state's voting age population to be 3,763,685. Using that figure, 69.7 percent of eligible Arizonans are registered to vote.

At 81.8%,there are 3,078,694 nonsmoking eligible voters.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2006/gener...NPR&SECTION=POLITICS

Proposition - 201-Smoke Free - 2208 of 2209 Precincts Reporting
Name- Votes- Pct
Yes- 623,770- 54.17
No- 527,797- 45.83

This means that only 29% of the nonsmoking registered voters voted 'Yes' and only 20% of the nonsmoking eligible voters bothered to register and vote 'Yes' for the smoking ban.

These numbers do not qualify as a clear majority of anything!!

Gary K.

Arizona had the same choices to vote for as Ohio.

But even without the lesser option, we knew damned well it would pass ONLY because the non-smokers ARE in the majority.

Some things should NOT be put to the vote, and those are the things that restrict the rights of any group of people. According to the constitution, the will of the people canNOT trample the rights of the minority.

We all know it is quite possible to work out the smoking/non-smoking issue. The real problem is the anti's know damned will they'll be sitting alone - playing with themselves - IF that option is available.

I feel another "revolution" is coming about because special interest groups are getting too greedy and they are all coming out of the woodwork right now.

Think I'll go find a shooting range, buy a gun, and learn to shoot.....