John Kasich

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday signed legislation that moves Ohio's 2016 presidential primary from March 8 to March 15. The change will allow Ohio Republicans to award all the state's delegates to the national convention in Cleveland to one candidate.

(Skip Peterson, AP, File, 2015)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday signed a bill that will delay Ohio's presidential primary a week in 2016 and ensures that Ohio Republicans will be able to award all their delegates for the national convention in Cleveland to a single candidate.

The legislation, which sets the primary for March 15, 2016, was passed by the Republican-dominated General Assembly in response to rules crafted by the national Republican Party following the 2012 election.

Those rules reserved February for primaries and caucuses from traditionally early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

Other states could start as soon as March 1, but could not hold winner-take-all contests before March 15.

Instead, delegates would be elected on a proportional basis, as they were in 2012 when Rick Santorum captured 21 of Ohio's 66 Republican delegates, even though Mitt Romney won the statewide primary vote.

Three states -- Florida, Illinois, and Missouri -- already have their primary elections scheduled for March 15.

A winner-take-all system in Ohio could be a boon for Kasich, who is widely expected to be a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Kasich won re-election to governor handily in 2014, capturing 86 of Ohio's 88 counties, including Democratic strongholds such as Cuyahoga, in a three-way race. A primary election contest would, of course, put him on the ballot only with other Republicans.

Kasich has set up a political action organization that can raise unlimited amounts of money. And he has made several trips to early primary and caucus states.

On Tuesday, the Northeast Ohio Media Group reported that ad man Fred Davis and strategist John Weaver have joined the Republican's presidential campaign-in-waiting. Their national experience includes work for John McCain and Jon Huntsman.