Ohio Presidential Primary 2012 Date Changed

The Ohio General Assembly approved a measure to combine the two scheduled 2012 primaries into a single date, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Yesterday House Bill 369 repealed the change to two primaries which would have pushed Ohio's 2012 Presidential primary into June. The change from the traditional "Super Tuesday" date was deemed necessary because the new political redistricting map was not yet approved. Governor John Kasich signed the bill into law, making March 6 officially the 2012 primary date, according to the Dayton Daily News. The new legislation also created 16 new Ohio congressional districts. Ohio will send 66 delegates to the National Republican Convention.

Ohioans shared their thoughts on the new map and change in primary date via email, instant messaging and Twitter.

* "I am glad we are back to having a single primary for both state and national elections. Two would have been costly and unnecessary. The political redistricting map battle was ridiculous. The maps always favor which party has a majority. The Republicans did not do anything that Democrats didn't do the last time they were in charge during the mapping process." -- Nedra Tigner, real estate agent, Columbus.

* "There was no need for a two primaries and having the 2012 Presidential one in June made Ohio less significant in the process. A single primary date for every state would make a lot more sense and would not make one state more important than the other. It doesn't take weeks for candidates to travel around the country anymore and news is shared in an instant. Those were the original reasons why each state had primaries in different months." -- Tom Gilbert, electronics repair technician, Bethel.

* "The redistricting is no more or less fair this time than it has been in the past. The liberal angst over the map put us in a frustrating position for the 2012 election. Obama is not going to win in Ohio no matter how many times they attempt to hold legislation up in court. The only fair way to do a map is to divide strictly by geographic location so counties with like demographics are represented by the same person. That will never happen in Ohio or any other state, the process is far too political." -- Jerry Baldwin, retired public employee, Logan.

* "It looks like the Republicans won this round. All of their money and backroom deals got a map which still favors their twisted capitalistic mindset. It would have been better to have two primaries and offer voters a fair and transparent election based. They will try anything to prevent President Obama from having another term." -- Rashawna Eastman, Ohio State University graduate student, Columbus.

* "I do not like to see counties split up into different parts and the first map had a lot of that. It is very hard for local officials to get big projects done when they have to deal with multiple representatives in a single municipal area. I am not a Republican, but the map they came up with does not favor their party to any greater extent that my party was favored the last time around. One primary in March is the best thing for Ohio voters from a cost standpoint." -- Diana Morgan, teacher, Springfield.