The petition drive to repeal and replace the smoking ban has failed for a second time. Buchanan County Clerk Mary Baack-Garvey says the petitioners needed 2,568 valid signatures to force action by the city council.

They fell short of that mark.

Ms Baack-Garvey says only 2,197 signatures were confirmed to come from voters within St Joseph, 371 short of the goal. (corrected number)

The group gained some ground over its previous effort to force changes to St Joseph’s Clean Air Ordinance, which fell more than 800 signatures short of the number required under the City Charter.

St Joseph bar owner, Steve Peterman spearheaded the effort. Peterman had hoped to allow adults-only businesses to decide whether to allow smoking on their premises.

38% of the signatures submitted were either rejected or duplicates. Ms Baack-Garvey says 993 of the signatures submitted in the latest offering were from people who had not registered to vote. Another 126 were disqualified because those who signed were registered outside the City of St Joseph. Baack-Garvey says 195 signatures were disallowed because they were duplicates.

According to the St Joseph City Charter, a petition certified insufficient for lack of the required number of valid signatures may be amended just once. If an amended petition has been certified insufficient, the petitioners may file a request for review by the City Council within two days after receiving the copy of the certification.