Ohio petitions for presidential candidates and their slates of delegates are due on December 30, 2011, at 4 p.m. Candidates running in Republican and Democratic presidential primaries need 1,000 signatures if they are using the statewide option. Candidates running in any qualified minor party presidential primaries need 500 signatures.

So far, the only Republicans who have filed in Ohio are Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Chances are, none of the five qualified parties is going to have any candidates on its own presidential primary ballot. Greens had thought of qualifying Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay, but were taken by surprise on December 16 when the legislature changed the date of the presidential primary from June to March. Before the legislature’s surprise action, everyone had expected that the presidential primary petition deadline would be in February.