Activists in Steubenville, Ohio are rushing to gather 660 signatures over the next thirty days to put the city's speed camera program to a public vote on the November ballot. Last month, the city had restarted its automated ticketing program with a new ordinance, even though Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas Judge David E. Henderson declared the previous city ordinance illegal. On Thursday, a judge struck down the city of Girard's essentially identical camera program as illegal under Ohio law.

Resident Gary Kessler is organizing the petition because he does not like the ticket cameras, and he wants the public -- not the city council -- to decide the issue.

"I'm trying to keep the cameras out of Steubenville," Kessler told WTOV-TV. "I don't support them, but maybe this is a different time and a different era. Maybe the people in Steubenville want the cameras, if they want it, so be it."

In March, the neighboring state of West Virginia enacted a ban on all photo enforcement after a number of residents had passed through Steubenville and complained to their state representatives about it. Photo radar has been put to a public referendum just three times between 1991 and 1997. Voters turned out in Batavia, Illinois; Peoria, Arizona and Anchorage, Alaska to reject the systems.