December 7 is the deadline in Ohio for petitions to get on the primary ballot. The Washington Times reported that Newt Gingrich probably would fail to submit petitions on time, but then other newspapers reported that the Washington Times is story is not really accurate.

Ohio doesn’t require any petitions for presidential candidates to appear on the primary ballot, but does require 50 signatures for the presidential candidate’s delegates from each U.S. House district, for major party presidential primaries. Because the presidential primary delegate selection process is tied to separate contests in each U.S. House district, it is possible for a candidate to be on the ballot in some U.S. House districts and not others. Also, it means that Ohio can’t hold a presidential primary until it has its U.S. House district boundaries settled.

Because Ohio is late to have its U.S. House district boundaries known for sure, the legislature passed a bill earlier this year moving the presidential primary and the U.S. House primary to June 14. So, even though under the existing law all presidential primary petitions are due today, along with U.S. House petitions, the Secretary of State expects to have a second, later deadline for those kind of petitions as soon as the district lines are settled. That is why Gingrich will get another chance to submit primary petitions later.

Here is the original Washington Times story, which is very worth reading, because it quotes various Republican Party leaders who say the ballot access process for presidential primaries is ridiculously complex and burdensome. And it is, but anyone who says the presidential primary petitioning process is too difficult really ought to look at the process for minor party and independent candidate ballot access. Here is a later story from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the links.