You’ll be seeing candidates’ yard signs for much longer this election season, now that Ohio’s primary is delayed to June 2.

The candidates, reeling from Monday’s late announcement of delay, will run extended campaigns.

Among them is Niki Frenchko, who is competing against Rex Fee for the Republican nomination to seek the Trumbull County commissioner position currently held by Daniel Polivka. Frenchko said she is “excited to have more time to connect with more people” and get her message out to Trumbull County voters via telephone, Facebook, other social media methods — all while adhering to social distancing protocols.

But she said the election shutdown should have been handled in a less confusing way.

“This could have been discussed last week when they were closing schools. By discussing this sooner, instead of at the 11th hour, we could have prevented the confusion the poll workers, volunteers and election board employees were put through,” Frenchko said.

Fee said he’s disappointed “because I think a lot of candidates temper their campaigns to last up until voting day. Adding two and a half months to the campaign for candidates funding their own campaigns will be a big hit.

“I went to bed thinking I was getting up for Election Day. I woke up at a quarter to 5 a.m., walked the dogs and had a cup of coffee and got ready to go. I unplugged my phone from the charger and saw it was canceled,” Fee said.

Polivka said he doesn’t believe his campaign will need any further fundraising efforts even with the extension of the primary season, where he faces Democratic challengers Carl Clemens and David Guarino.

He said he is fine with the delay because the “health and welfare” of county citizens should come first, “not our campaigns.

“Elections will come and go. I encourage the public to vote by mail, especially the elderly, so there’s less contact,” Polivka said. “Again, I say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Encourage people to stay home as much as they can with their family and use it in a positive way to strengthen and rekindle relationships and do some spring cleaning, etc.”

Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith, who is in a hotly contested Democratic primary with David DeChristofaro, said he will not hold gatherings in order to continue fundraising. He said he and his team were “prepared and looking forward to positive results for us on election day.” And they will be “anxiously waiting on a new date.”

Smith added: “The confusion as a result of the delay was unfortunate, but we understand the need to keep everyone safe. Of course, it is imperative that every individual has an opportunity to vote. Men and women have fought and lost their lives protecting this privilege so it’s important to get it right so that every vote is counted.”

DeChristofaro said, “Running a campaign, especially one this spirited, you look forward to the culmination of your efforts resulting in a win on Election Day. But the core of this movement has been about people, not politics. For that reason, I agree with the governor that the health and well-being of our citizens should come first. I’m in no way discouraged.”

State Rep. Gil Blair, D-Weathersfield, who faces two challengers in the Democratic primary, said while it is disappointing for many people the election has been postponed it is very understandable.

“It was disappointing to not be able to get through the primary but with the important need to protect people from getting sick and save lives, it is understandable. It is unbelievable what we are going through,” Blair said.

Barry Profato of Niles, one of Blair’s oppponents in the Ohio House’s 63rd District Democratic primary, said while many people were really hoping to be able to get through the primary, the delay makes sense.

“Based on the dynamics of what our country is going through, the health of the public is what is of the utmost importance now,” he said.

Profato said what upset many people was finding out so late the primary was canceled.

“The timing was what made it hard for people of less than 24 hours notice. Now the public is going to have to wait until June 2 and have to look at candidate signs all over the place for about three months,” Profato said.

Werner Lange of Newton Falls, the other candidate in the primary, said while he had hoped the election would be over and his and everyone’s stress would be over, “I will be able to hobble along until June. I had hoped it would be all over. I’m already sick of looking at all the candidate signs polluting the environment.”

Also, the levies on the primary ballot will not be affected by the postponement. If approved, the levies do not start collecting money immediately and the majority won’t start collecting until next year to be distributed in 2021, said Trumbull County Auditor Adrian Biviano.

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