On February 26, Utah SB 28 passed the legislature. No one voted against it in either house of the legislature. It deletes the law requiring that independent candidates have a ballot label saying the candidate “does not qualify to be listed on the ballot as affiliated with a political party.” Instead, assuming the bill is signed, in the future, the label will simply be “unaffilated.”

The only independent candidate for any federal or state office on the Utah ballot in 2018, Marsha Holland, discovered after the election that many voters were confused by the label, and interpreted the label to mean that she was “unqualified” for the office. She filed a federal lawsuit. The state and she agreed to suspend the lawsuit until the legislature was given a chance to delete the old label. Assuming the Governor signs the bill, there will be no need for a judicial ruling.