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.

On Friday, March 23, Roseanne Barr made her first campaign speech at the Mayflower Club in North Hollywood, California. Here is a 27-minute You Tube of Barr’s talk. As virtually all readers of this blog know, Barr is seeking the Green Party presidential nomination.

Marshall Hobbs, a candidate for Fort Worth, Texas city council in May 2012, is being kept off the ballot because he made a miniscule mistake on his candidacy declaration. He has lived in the district since July 1, 2011, and the law only requires that candidates have lived in the district for six months. When he filled out his declaration of candidacy form, which asked how long he had lived in the district, he put “zero years” and “six months”, thinking there was no need to give the actual (longer) residency, because six months is the requirement.

Unfortunately, the requirement is six months before the opening day for filing, not six months before the actual date of filing. So even though he really does meet the duration of residency requirement, because he minimized that period of time on the form, the City Clerk is keeping him off the ballot. However, he has filed a lawsuit, which will be heard in time for possible relief. See this story. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.