In March 2012, Ohio will hold a primary for seven parties. However, except for the Democratic and Republican Parties, no one will appear on any party’s primary ballot for U.S. Senate. Minor party members who might have wanted to run for U.S. Senate in their own party’s primary all were unable to get 500 signatures to appear on the statewide primary ballot, mostly because the deadline was shortened unexpectedly.

However, an Ohio Green, Joseph DeMare, is a declared write-in for the U.S. Senate Green Party nomination. Even though he is running unopposed, he cannot appear on the November 2012 ballot as a Green unless he receives 500 write-in votes on March 6. If he is able to surmount this hurdle, he will be the first minor party candidate for statewide office to ever get enough votes in an Ohio minor party primary to be on the November ballot. See this story.

DeMare had to struggle to persuade the Ohio Secretary of State’s office to accept him as a declared write-in candidate. When the Green Party first asked the Secretary of State’s office about filing as a declared write-in, the office said write-ins are not permitted in primaries for U.S. Senate. The office changed its mind after seeing evidence that there had been past declared write-in candidates for U.S. Senate in Republican and Democratic primaries.