As a bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers pushes to move Ohio’s presidential primary elections from March to May, a Republican state representative has introduced an amendment to the state budget to retain Ohio’s March primary for the 2024 election.
Every four years, during the presidential election season, Ohio holds its primary election in March. The state generally holds other statewide primaries in May, but in 1996, the Ohio Legislature changed the presidential primary to March.
The two-year budget now also includes a change that would reschedule Ohio’s March primary to May. House members included the provision in their budget version after considering Governor Mike DeWine‘s budget proposal in February.
According to State Representative Brian Stewart (R-Ashville), it is necessary to retain the March 2024 primary allowing Ohio to play a larger role in deciding who the next elected president will be.
“By May 2024, the presidential primary will more than likely be decided. Ohio should play a larger role in that process, and retaining our March 2024 primary will allow that to happen,” Stewart said.
According to Stewart (pictured above), with his amendment, all primaries would be on the same day in March.
The amendment would remove from the state budget House Bill (HB) 33, “a provision that required a presidential primary election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in May, the same as any other primary election, instead of being held on the third Tuesday after the first Monday in March.”
According to State Representative Dan Troy (D-Willowick), who introduced a separate bill in February to move the primary, the idea that retaining the March primary offers Ohioans more influence over the candidates who are nominated for president is uncertain.
“Every fourth year, we schedule our primary election in mid-March, allegedly for the purposes of Ohio being more of a player in the presidential primary races. Ohio’s influence on that process has proven to be dubious at best, and it’s time to return to a normal and consistent election schedule,” Troy said.
Rob Nichols, a Secretary of State Frank LaRose spokesman, told The Ohio Star that voters have handled the two primary dates in the past.
“It’s up to the General Assembly to set the time, place, and manner of Ohio’s elections, but voters are pretty resilient. They’ve adapted to the earlier presidential primary date just fine in past elections,” Nichols told The Star.
Lawmakers expect the full House chamber to approve HB 33 next week. The Ohio Senate will then consider it. A budget approved by both chambers must be reconciled before being sent to DeWine for approval before the fiscal year’s end on June 30th.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Brian Stewart” by The Ohio House of Representatives. Background Photo “Election Day” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
