On October 20, the Ohio Senate passed HB 318-substitute, a bill that creates a March 2012 primary for U.S. Senate, state legislature, and county office, as well as a June 12 primary for U.S. House and President. Here is the text of the bill.

Candidates running in a primary for U.S. House in the June primary would still be expected to submit petitions by December 7, but the petitions could be circulated in the districts established by the legislature a few weeks ago. If the district boundaries change, the petitions would still be valid.

Ohio doesn’t know what the U.S. House district boundaries will be in 2012, because a referendum petition is being circulated against the bill that established those boundaries. So, the Senate felt that it would be better to postpone the U.S. House primaries to June. The presidential primary will also be put off until June, because Ohio’s presidential primary always elects delegates to the major party national conventions from particular U.S. House districts.

Of course it is massively more expensive to hold two primaries than to hold one. One would have expected the legislature to simply move the primary for all office to June, given the delay in knowing what the U.S. House district boundaries will be. What is especially peculiar with the bill is that the primary for U.S. Senate would be in March but the primary for U.S. House would be in June.

In the meantime, the Secretary of State is still pondering whether or not to put Americans Elect, the Green Party, the Constitution Party, and the Socialist Party, on the 2012 ballot. The Libertarian Party is now on the ballot. Thanks to Mark McGinnis for this news.