On March 22, Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed HB 233. It provides that when a party meets the 2% vote test, it is then on the ballot for the next four years. The old law said a party must pass the 2% vote test every two years.

It is far easier for a party to poll 2% in presidential years, when five or six statewide offices are on the ballot, than in midterm years, when there is almost never more than one statewide office on the ballot. The offices up in presidential years, besides President, include U.S. Senate (two-thirds of the time), Attorney General, Auditor, and Treasurer. But in midterm years, only U.S. Senate is ever on the ballot (and even that isn’t on in one-third of the years), except in the rare instances when there is a vacancy in a statewide office and a special election is held.