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Red light cameras were unpopular Tuesday among absentee voters in Cleveland and Maple Heights.

(Plain Dealer file photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Controversial red-light camera programs in Cleveland and Maple Heights are taking a beating, with more than 70 percent of early voters supporting initiatives that would severely restrict the cameras' use.

Cleveland's proposed charter change 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."

Maple Heights' amendment goes further, prohibiting the city from entering into a contract with a traffic camera vendor if payment is contingent upon the number of tickets issued. The amendment also mandates that violations be tried before a municipal or common pleas judge and that defendants be afforded the same rights they would receive if facing criminal charges.

The intent of the proposed charter changes was to undermine the business models of both cities' traffic camera systems, which are designed to run without officers present and treat citations as civil infractions.

In Cleveland, 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.

Last week, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson made his final case to voters, emphasizing what he called the "facts" about the cameras and foreshadowing a future without them.

The mayor said that 80 percent of the cameras are in the city's highest crash intersections or thoroughfares. The number of citations issued has declined dramatically, from 118,000 in 2008 to 77,000 last year – evidence that the cameras affect driver behavior and road safety, he said.