The American Independent Party of California is currently split into two factions, the one which favored Alan Keyes for president in 2008, and the one that favored Chuck Baldwin for president in 2008. The California Secretary of State recognizes the Alan Keyes faction.
The Alan Keyes faction has tentatively decided to revoke the ability of independent voters to vote in AIP primaries for public office, but the party has not made a formal notification to the California Secretary of State. State law requires such a notification to be made by January 25, 2010. Apparently the State Central Committee of the Keyes faction will meet on January 13, 2010, to formalize the decision. The location of that meeting is the home of Mark Robinson, 476 Deodora Street, Vacaville. Members of the state central committee can also participate via computer.
No California state court has ever made a ruling on the substance of the various lawsuits filed last year, or in 2008, to determine the identity of the bona fide party officers. The 2008 lawsuit filed by the Baldwin faction was dismissed for procedural reasons, and the 2009 lawsuits have been stalled because the officers in the Keyes faction have managed to avoid being served, or at least have raised unresolved questions about whether service was successful.
The Republican Party of California, and the Democratic Party of California, both let independent voters vote in their primaries for Congress and state office. The Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Peace & Freedom Party, do not let independents vote in their primaries.
Altho I am about as ‘happy’ with the decisions to formally in clude Keyes as grand Pubba of the Bible Beaters as I am the horror of allowing Domestic ‘Israel First’ Nazi John Blare to continue his unwarranted strangle hold on the deform /reform movement, this probably a good call by the Ed Noonan gang.
Oh good. While I know Keyes is still around and gunning for 2012 so he can come in 7th place in the presidential election, it is nice to see his party is still there in California. Where is the rest of America’s Invisible Part-pardon, America’s Independent Party.
Our experience with letting independents (or as we call them, Unaffliated) participate in the Libertarian primary in 2000 was very positive. It gets more people involved and didn’t taint the result.
Elections Code 3205 says that for permanent vote by mail voters who are registered as DTS, the county election officials will send a notice to the voters that they may request a party primary ballot if the party has adopted a rule permitting them to do so. The notice also includes a toll-free telephone number that the voter may call to “access information regarding which political parties have adopted such a rule”.
So a voter (who “did not state an intent to affiliate with a party at the next primary”) will get a notice that they might not understand. They will then have to call a toll-free number to “access information regarding …”. They then have to write the name of the party on the request form and then send it back to the county election officials in order to be sent a party primary ballot?
Being that this is the 21st Century, why can’t voters simply post a video on Youtube showing them patting their tummy and rubbing their head, if they wish a Republican ballot; and patting their head and rubbing their belly if they want a Democratic ballot; and riding a bicycle seated backwards if they want an American Independent ballot?
The quicker that top 2 comes to CA the better — to put the party hacks OUT of business — in ALL parties, big and small.
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