Ohioana

The State of Ohioana is a very large state in the Great Lakes Region of the United States. It formed on December 24, 2020, when both states were having poverty issues. The capital of Ohioana is Columbus, the original capital of Ohio. The largest city in the state is Indianapolis, however. Ohioana is the 16th largest US state by land area, and it is the 5th most populated state. The population of Ohioana is 18.243 million, and it is continuously growing. The governor of the state is Eric Holcomb. The state later became a country when America fell in 2029.

Map of Ohioana on January 1, 2021.

History

In 2012, a significant increase of residents below the poverty line surprised the political leaders of Indiana and Ohio. The unemployment rate continued to increase in both states. By 2017, the unemployment rate in both states combined was 21.9%, which was the highest in the country at the time. In 2018, the governors of Indiana and Ohio had a meeting. This meeting discussed potentially merging the two states, and a capital would be decided by the end of 2019. Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana suggested to merge some of the smallest counties with the highest unemployment rate to merge with a larger county. Governor John Kasich of Ohio agreed to this, and so counties began to be merged with each other. Some counties were split if cultures were slightly different than each other. One instance of this was Lawrence County in Indiana, which had differences from its north and south counterparts. By 2019, this task was completed, and the capital selection was in progress. A debate between the two governors determined the selection of the capital. Several cities included on the list were Indianapolis, Bloomington, Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Richmond. The cities of Toledo, Cleveland, and Fort Wayne did not qualify due to not being near the center of the proposed combined state. The final two cities in the selection were Indianapolis and Columbus, as expected. A vote between the government of each state was held for the capital. The vote occurred on January 4, 2020, and the results were in on the following day. Indianapolis had 90 votes compared to Columbus having 110 votes. By this vote, the city of Columbus became the capital. In the summer of 2020, the two states had a meeting with the U.S. government about merging together. A referendum was held for the proposed merge, with a 96% voter outcome. 88% voted support, 5% voted oppose, and 7% voted for another idea.

The United States government approved the merge of Indiana and Ohio on November 24, 2020. This meant that they had three months to form a government and hold a gubernatorial and senate election. The electoral college was also required to be formed in this time period. The state could not be formed until December 24, 2020 according to the United States because the state could have problems if it was formed before that time. The electoral college amount was decided, and 29 were given to Ohioana. A gubernatorial election was held against two major candidates. Eric Holcomb, the current governor of Indiana, campaigned against Betty Sutton, who won Ohio in the 2018 election. The first gubernatorial election was held on December 8, 2020. The election results showed favor in Holcomb becoming governor overall, and he was inaugurated. A Senate was elected in each district, and the government was controlled by the Republican Party.

Election results in 2020 by county in Ohioana.

The state of Ohioana formed its constitution by combining Indiana's and Ohio's state constitutions. This was done on December 22, two days before the two states could merge. On December 24, the day that they could become one state, they merged together to form Ohioana. Around the country, many were surprised to see that the states of Indiana and Ohio merged, as it was not widespread news across the rest of the country, apart from the surrounding states. The state of Ohioana caused the amount of states to decrease to 50, as Puerto Rico became the 51st state in 2018. The state of Ohioana also has 178 counties, which is one of the highest amounts in the United States. Ohioana also has the third most electoral votes, tied with New York and Florida. It is the largest state in the Great Lakes Region. The state first voted in the 2024 US Presidential Election, and it went red on the map, as expected by most political experts and news anchors.

Climate

Ohioana has a humid continental climate, with cold winters and hot, wet summers. The extreme southern portion of the state is within the humid subtropical climate area and receives more precipitation than other parts of Ohioana. Temperatures generally diverge from the north and south sections of the state. In the middle of the winter, average high/low temperatures range from around 30 °F/15 °F (−1 °C/-10 °C) in the far north to 41 °F/24 °F (5 °C/-4 °C) in the far south. In the middle of summer there is generally a little less variation across the state, as average high/low temperatures range from around 84 °F/64 °F (29 °C/18 °C) in the far north to 90 °F/69 °F (32 °C/21 °C) in the far south. The record high temperature for the state was 116 °F (47 °C) set on July 14, 1936 at Collegeville. The record low was −36 °F (−38 °C) on January 19, 1994 at New Whiteland. The growing season typically spans from 155 days in the north to 185 days in the south.

Major Cities

1. Indianapolis - 820,445
2. Columbus - 787,033
3. Cleveland - 385,809
4. Cincinnati - 298,800
5. Toledo - 278,508
6. Fort Wayne - 264,488
7. Akron - 197,542
8. Dayton - 140,599
9. Evansville - 119,477
10. South Bend - 101,735