Ferguson proposing bill to pay for possible second Ohio primary

COLUMBUS, Ohio — With the potential cost of an extra Ohio primary costing between the tens and the hundreds of thousands of dollars, local counties need some help. And Representative Ron Ferguson has proposed a bill that might just do that."That cost, actually, would fall on the counties,” Ferguson said. “If we don't take initiative here at the state level to pay for it. It's not fair to the counties. So, I've actually reached out to the local county commissioners. Spoken to Tony Morelli, J.P. Dutton and Mick Schumacher in Jefferson, Belmont and Monroe counties. I told them that what I am proposing to do is take money from the Ohio Supreme Court budget and reallocate it to this election so that counties aren't footing the bill.”

Across the state, the cost of a proposed August primary is estimated by Secretary of State Frank LaRose at $20 to $25 million. Ferguson said, locally, the costs vary from about $35,000 for Monroe County to $140,000 in Belmont County.

Ferguson said the bill will be filed Friday morning.

“How I see it is, the speaker of the house, the minority leader, all those folks, the five Republicans, two Democrats, they worked on the weekends, they worked past midnight, they continued to do all they can to reach the deadlines,” Ferguson said. “The court didn't work on the weekends. They didn't work at night because they haven't prioritized having a unified primary the way the redistricting commission has.”

As an appropriations bill, Ferguson said this would take effect with the governor's signature.