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.

Some states provide qualified minor parties with their own presidential primaries, and minor parties have used presidential primaries in at least a few states, in all presidential elections starting in 1972.

For 2012, the Green Party seems to be the minor party with the greatest opportunity to use presidential primaries, because it is not nominating a presidential candidate until July. The Green Party is now entitled to its own presidential primary in Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New York, and West Virginia.

The Libertarian Party has fewer opportunities to use its own presidential primaries, because it is nominating in early May, before primaries are held in many states. However, the Libertarians are free to use presidential primaries in Arizona, Delaware, and Missouri.

The Constitution Party’s national convention is in April, but it is free to use its presidential primary in Missouri, because that primary is on February 7, well before the party’s national convention.

Americans Elect does not wish to participate in any government-sponsored presidential primaries, because it has its own national on-line presidential primary. However, chances are it would be eligible for government presidential primaries in Arizona, California, Delaware, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah, and possibly a few other states, if it wished.

Certain other minor parties are eligible for presidential primaries if they wished to use them, but generally they don’t. These include the Conservative, Working Families, and Independence Parties of New York, and the Progressive Party in Vermont. The Peace & Freedom Party always uses its presidential primary in California, as does the American Independent Party in that state.