The Ohio Secretary of State has released the list of candidates in the March 6 primary. For president, in the Democratic primary President Obama is the only listed choice. In the Republican race, six names appear: Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. Candidates needed 1,000 signatures due on December 30, which explains why some candidates who have dropped out are on the list; they hadn’t dropped out during the petitioning period.

Although any of the four qualified minor parties could have had a presidential primary, each minor party presidential candidate would have needed 500 signatures, and there was so little time when the deadline was set that no minor party presidential candidate qualified.

For U.S. Senate, one Libertarian and two Greens filed a declaration of write-in candidacy. They will only be on the November ballot if they get at least 500 write-ins in the party’s primary. And, of course, in the case of the two Greens, only the one with more votes will be the nominee.

For U.S. House, Libertarians filed in eight of the sixteen districts, and Greens filed in three. For State Senate, the only minor party candidate is one Libertarian. For State House, Libertarians are running in six districts. It doesn’t appear that any candidates filed in the Socialist Party primary or the Constitution Party primary, for federal or state office anyway. Thanks to Tony Roza for the news about the list.