Ohio voters will cast ballots for local, state and U.S. Senate races in March, but the 2012 presidential and congressional primaries will be moved to June 12 under a bill that passed a Senate committee this morning and is slated for quick legislative action.

Veteran elections officials said they cannot recall if Ohio has ever held a split primary before. The move buys time and helps with filing deadline issues created when Democrats started the process of trying to overturn the new GOP-drawn congressional map.

House Bill 318 moves the filing deadline for congressional races to Dec. 24 and says the state will reimburse counties for the cost of the second primary.

Talks are going on with the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus regarding possible changes to the new congressional map that might hold off a Democratic effort to overturn the new districts.

Sources in both parties say those talks include changes to the new 3rd Congressional District, a solidly Democratic seat that encompasses much of the city of Columbus. With a black voting population of about 28 percent, the district has the potential to produce the state’s second minority member of Congress. Changes under discussion would increase the concentration of black voters, although some say it’s unlikely to rise much above 30 percent.

“Conversations are continuing,” said Rep. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, who participated in a Legislative Black Caucus meeting yesterday to discuss the situation. “We are interested in trying to improve the Democratic and the African-American position.”

“Everything is pretty fluid,” added Sen. Charleta B. Tavares, D-Columbus, who has expressed interest in running in the new 3rd District. She said the district should be drawn fully within the city of Columbus, instead of in its current shamrock shape.

This morning, Tavares tried to amend House Bill 318 to place all races in a single primary.

“Anyone thinks that having two primary dates (is better) for voters is mistaken. People are going to think they’re being tricked,” she said, noting that in past elections, there are occasional efforts to confuse people about the day of voting.

Sen. Bill Coley, R-West Chester, said that voters expect a primary in March, so lawmakers should only move the elections that are necessary.

Democrats won a 7-0 Ohio Supreme Court decision last week that said the new Republican-drawn map is subject to a referendum, despite the GOP’s attachment of a budget appropriation to the bill to stop such a move. If Democrats collect enough signatures in the next couple of months to get the map on the November 2012 ballot, it would be put on hold, tossing congressional elections into great uncertainty.

Democrats have sharply criticized the map, which includes awkwardly gerrymandered districts that, according to a political index produced by a nonpartisan group, give the GOP a solid chance to hold 12 of the 16 seats, even though historically Ohio has only a slight Republican majority.

Ohio is losing two congressional seats because of slow population growth. Republicans have argued that their map is fair because it eliminates one Republican and one Democratic incumbent and draws a new “minority influence” Columbus district.

Rep. Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, House Republicans’ No. 2 leader, said yesterday that he doesn’t expect Republicans to offer changes to the map this week.

“They can referendum any map,” he said. “We came to the conclusion that we don’t need a new map. It just keeps delaying it.”

Blessing also was not optimistic about reaching agreement with Democratic members of the black caucus to pass a new map with an emergency clause that would make it effective immediately and eliminate the possibility of a referendum. House Republicans would need at least seven Democrats to join them in approving an emergency clause.

Three black House Democrats from the Cleveland area, including Rep. Sandra Williams, president of the black caucus, broke with party leaders last month and voted in favor of the new congressional map.

“Democrats are ready to come to the table and help clean up this mess,” Sen. Shirley Smith, D-Cleveland, said this morning.

Moving the federal primary would buy Republicans more time to try to find a map solution, such as asking the Ohio Supreme Court to allow the newly drawn congressional map to remain in place for the 2012 election while the referendum is sorted out on the November 2012 ballot. Blessing said that has been done in other states.

County elections officials eagerly await a decision.

“Chaos is not a word that I use lightly, but it’s probably appropriate in this case,” said Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Elections Officials. Coming on the heels of confusion regarding an election-law overhaul in House Bill 194, which also is on hold pending a Democratic referendum effort. “It has people on edge, big-time.”

The Senate is scheduled for a voting session today; the House has scheduled a rare Friday session.