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COLUMBUS — Alan Noble is no dummy — he is a retired middle school teacher with a master's degree — yet he says he got duped.

Earlier this month, outside Aldi's grocery in Englewood, a man to ask Noble to sign a petition that the man claimed would lower interest rates charged by payday lenders, Noble said.

"He was very emphatic about it. There was no miscommunication. He was very clear," Noble said. The man even pointed to a nearby payday lending store and said 'They're the bad guys,' according to Noble.

Noble signed the petition but later found out in the Dayton Daily News that the petition is campaign to repeal one of the nation's toughest short-term lending laws. The law caps annual interest rates at 28 percent, down from the current 391 percent.

"I'm actually really appalled about this whole thing," Noble said.

Noble isn't the only one.

Noble and others contacted Ohioans for Financial Freedom to ask that their names be removed – a step that must be taken before the documents are turned into the Secretary of State on Aug. 31.

John Campbell of Ohioans for Financial Freedom said he has received less than 20 requests for name removals. (He can be reached at 614-477-5042 or campayneteam@gmail.com.)

Nonetheless, there are persistent reports that the circulators are misleading voters into signing.

Ohio Public Radio reporter Bill Cohen captured two petition circulators on tape saying the issue seeks to lower the interest rates and former Statehouse reporter Sandy Theis, who is now a political consultant, recorded one giving a similar pitch and said she's encountered several others. Theis is now spokeswoman for the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending, which opposes the issue.

Kim Norris, spokeswoman for Ohioans for Financial Freedom, did not comment on the validity of Cohen's report and discounted Theis' recording. "This is another campaign stunt from Sandy Theis, who learned this tactic well when she was representing the strippers," Norris said. Strip clubs failed to get enough signatures last year to put an issue before voters.

Ohioans for Financial Freedom asked the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending to retract claims it made that the payday lenders were paying homeless people to sign the petition.

Theis' response: "Look, they got caught and they don't have an answer for it so they're saying people are making it up."

Solomon Harge and Robert Bonner of Consumer Protection Association in Cleveland lodged a complaint with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections about payday lending petition circulators' tactics but other large counties, including Montgomery, Hamilton and Franklin, and the Ohio Secretary of State have yet to receive formal complaints.

At a press conference on Friday, Aug. 22, the Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending presented another voter who said he was tricked into signing the petition and sent a letter to the Franklin County Board of Elections, calling for an investigation.

The payday lenders need 241,365 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters by Aug. 31 to block the law from taking effect on Sept. 1. Then voters will be asked whether the law should be implemented.

The Ohio Ballot Board gave the payday lenders the "No" side of the vote, which is to their advantage because on confusing issues, voters tend to choose no. A no vote would block the new 28 percent interest rate cap from taking effect.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1624 or lbischoff@DaytonDailyNews.com.