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Retired U.S. Senator George Voinovich will campaign in support of Cleveland's red light camera program.

(Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The city of Cleveland has enlisted the help of former U.S Sen. George Voinovich in fighting the ballot initiative that seeks to effectively ban the use of traffic enforcement cameras in the city.

City Council President Kevin Kelley said in an interview Wednesday that Voinovich, who also served as mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989 and later as Ohio's governor, will appear in a TV ad supporting the cameras as a tool to encourage safe driving on city streets.

Kelley said that for many Clevelanders, the cameras are "an emotional issue." They're annoyed by traffic tickets and typically dislike the notion of being observed by cameras while out in public.

So the city must respond with an equally emotional appeal. Among other examples, the commercial will draw upon parents' need to ensure their children are safe from being struck by speeding vehicles in school zones, Kelley said.

Voinovich is a trusted elder statesman and one of Cleveland's own -- the perfect spokesman for the red-light camera program, Kelley said.

And Voinovich has experienced personal tragedy on account of recklessness on the road. In 1979, during his mayoral campaign, his youngest daughter, 9-year-old Molly, was returning to school after walking home for lunch in the Collinwood neighborhood when she was struck and killed by a van. The driver had run a red light.

The ballot measure, Issue 35, would ban using the cameras "unless a law enforcement officer is present at the location of the device and personally issues a ticket to the alleged violator at the time and date of the violation."

The change would undermine the business model for Cleveland's traffic camera system, which is designed to run without officers present.

A group of activists spent the past four years collecting more than 13,000 signatures on petitions that they submitted to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. That's more than twice the number required to put the question to voters, according to elections officials.

Stay tuned to cleveland.com today for more on this developing story.