Ohio prepares for Republican primary

Voting registration in Bowling Green.

As Republican presidential candidates begin their rapid tours through Ohio, citizens are preparing for the state’s March 6 primary and beyond.

Bowling Green has seen its share of political activism throughout the past several years, from Occupy BG to voter registration drives.

Jim Howes, a University graduate and volunteer team leader for Organizing for America, a Democratic community political organizing project, said efforts like OFA help places like Bowling Green remain politically active.

“A lot of people are registered [to vote], which is great,” Howes said.

While many people pledge to register for the first time, Howes stresses the importance of students keeping their registration updated as they move to different addresses.

Students are often forced to cast provisional ballots if voting in Bowling Green, because they registered to vote in their home towns rather than in Wood County.

“We’re trying to mitigate this as much as possible,” Howes said.

By updating to their University address, votes are cast in the county they are registered, allowing for regular ballots.

Ohio presidential campaign

Two weeks before the Republican presidential primary, candidates are already travelling through the state. Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are among GOP candidates who have courted Ohio voters in factories, luncheons and speeches throughout February leading into the primary contest.

“Ohio is an extremely important state,” said Tim Newman, a political science instructor at the University. “In 2008 Ohio was…in the general [election] the most visited state, I think, in the whole election.”

Democratic candidate Barack Obama won Ohio in 2008, but the state is still considered a “swing state,” with no consistent political affiliation.

Ohio voted for Republican candidate George Bush in 2000 and 2004, while Democrat Bill Clinton won the Buckeye State in 1996.

Junior Jeff Dennis, a political science major, said that getting people involved in Wood County and elsewhere is to promote all political activism, not just for Democratic purposes.

“[OFA is] partisan, but today we’re really not,” he said.

Wood County presidential campaign

Wood County has mirrored the state’s election patterns, voting in Bush in 2004 but Obama four years later, according to the county’s Board of Elections website.

With President Obama as the Democratic incumbent, the remaining Republican candidates are vying for the Ohio primary and the state’s 66 delegates.

On March 6, Ohio joins 10 other states for the “Super Tuesday” primary contests. With only nine states’ contests already completed, the Super Tuesday elections are a significant benchmark in the 2012 presidential campaign.

Of the nine completed states, candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have won four contests, with Newt Gingrich’s sole victory coming in South Carolina this past month.

The primary contests continuing to be split between multiple candidates marks ongoing sentiments of unsure voters. Newman said this may be because of the quality of candidates.

“They don’t have especially good candidate skills,” he said.

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