The Arizona Republic has this news story about the lawsuit filed on December 29 by the Arizona Libertarian and Arizona Green Parties. The lawsuit attacks the new voter registration form, which lists the Democratic and Republican Parties on the voter registration form, but no other parties, even though Arizona has five qualified parties.
The article mentions that the Green and Libertarian Parties are also entitled to their own primary, but the article, and the people quoted in the article, seem not to remember that Americans Elect is also a qualified party in Arizona. Americans Elect did not join the lawsuit.
Jeez! Time for an Occupy the Ballot movement, if you ask me.
Wanna see how that can be done? Watch the sixth part of this 1996 TV documentary, in which New Zealand’s change to MMP is discussed:
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/someone-elses-country-1996
The section on electoral reform begins at 8:55.
I know that the problem of ballot access is different from that of which choice of electoral system a jurisdiction uses, and that cleaning up ballot access should be the first priority, but there needs to be a focused effort in each and every state.
And perhaps an Occupy the Ballot movement stands a good chance of enabling that in this current climate.
But AE specifically says it’s NOT a party.
Americans Elect, whatever it says, *is* a political party in Arizona, with 69 members as of the last official account. The online registration form doesn’t have the irregularity: the prospective voter gets a drop-down box with all five parties, I think in alphabetical order, as well as for those who are not registering with any party. The voter would have to fill in a space with any non-official party (not Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Green or Americans Elect).
Several candidates, including myself, have been placed on the Feb. 28 Green Party presidential preference primary ballot. Anyone who wants to run as a Green (or Republican) presidential candidate has to file by January 9:
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_southeast_valley/apache_junction/Arizonans-to-run-for-president
In a previous post, someone asked “Richard” (after I’d made a comment) about the AZ primary form requiring an Arizona committee address for candidates. I didn’t see it until a few days ago, when it was too late to comment, but if it was directed at me and not the brilliant Richard who writes this informative website, I can tell you that they’ve accepted candidates with an Arizona committee address in another state.
Also, it’s not generally known, and contrary to what I had believed, but apparently you do not even have to be a member of the political party to run in that party’s presidential primary in Arizona. See the Tucson Weekly’s Project White House website for more information.
However, only registered Republicans in Arizona can vote in the Feb. 28 GOP primary and only registered Greens can vote in the Green primary. Arizona voters who are independents, Democrats, Libertarians, American Elect voters or belong to other parties have until Jan. 31 to change their registration to vote in the Feb. 28 primary.
Americans Elect can say whatever it wants, if you’re a group that runs a candidate for office under a specific label, you’re a political party.
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