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Group against proposed Norfolk casino fails to collect enough signatures calling for referendum

Posted at 11:20 PM, Oct 24, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-24 23:21:23-04

NORFOLK, Va. – A group against the proposed casino in Norfolk says they’ve failed to get enough signatures on their petition calling for a referendum.

Thursday afternoon, “Say NO to the Norfolk Casino” posted on Facebook that they’ve only collected 3,680 signatures. They needed 4,000.

The group says the City of Norfolk “had a thumb on the scale of justice in this democratic process when it derailed voter confidence in the petitioners by actively promoting the option to remove one’s signature from the petition.

But they also say they aren’t giving up the fight.

“While today’s outcome is not what we had hoped for, we are more confident than ever that the Norfolk citizens do not want our city government to work in the way it did when undertaking the September 24th vote and the subsequent resolution it adopted in a special session on October 1st,” the group wrote. “Rather, we heard loud and clear, from citizens throughout every part of the city, that they do want to be included in a decision of this magnitude and scale.”

They’re now looking at other alternatives to fight the proposal.

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