The American Independent Party, which is on the ballot in California but no other state, will let independent voters vote in its presidential primary in 2016. California law lets each qualified party decide whether or not to invite independents to vote in its presidential primary. The AIP also let independents vote in its presidential primary in 2004 and 2008, but did not do so in 2012.
The AIP will soon finalize the list of presidential primary candidates who will appear on the ballot. Already the party has decided to list Donald Trump and J. R. Myers. Myers is seeking the presidential nomination of the Constitution Party. California presidential primaries are on June 7.
As far as is known, no presidential candidate has ever appeared on the ballot of more than a single party’s presidential primary simultaneously. However, there is no law against it. If the AIP submits the name of Donald Trump to the California Secretary of State, and if Trump does not decline, he would then appear on the presidential primary ballot of both the Republican Party and the AIP.
In 2012, Roseanne Barr’s name was on the Green Party’s presidential primary, but not the Peace & Freedom Party’s primary ballot. However, in August, the Peace & Freedom Party nominated Barr and so her name appeared on the November ballot as the PFP nominee. In 2008, Alan Keyes’ name appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot, and in November he was listed as the American Independent Party presidential nominee in California. Also in 2008, Ralph Nader’s name appeared on the Green Party presidential primary ballot (which he won), and in November he was listed as the Peace & Freedom nominee.
In California’s 1996 presidential primaries, Ralph Nader was on the Green Party ballot, and he also filed as a write-in in the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom primaries. He received 6,599 votes in the Democratic primary, 1,441 in the Republican primary, 187 in the Peace & Freedom primary, and 115 in the Libertarian primary. His Green primary total was 22,649.
Donald Trump’s name appeared on the California Reform Party presidential primary in 2000. He won that primary with 15,311 votes, defeating George D. Weber (9,390), Robert Bowman (4,879) and John B. Anderson (3,158). The Reform Party national convention that year nominated Pat Buchanan.
Once the Trump campaign is informed of the corruption of the AIP they will naturally demand that Mr. Trumps name be removed from their ballot to avoid being tainted by their corruption.
how does one obtain ballot status?Hedges ofthe prohibition party needs to enter
“Once the Trump campaign is informed of the corruption of the AIP they will naturally demand that Mr. Trumps name be removed from their ballot to avoid being tainted by their corruption.”
Yet you had the situation of Ron Paul and the Montana CP; they refused to remove his name and there was nothing anyone could legally do to them then.
Does the listing of Myers indicate a rapprochement between the AIP and the national Constitution Party?
The CP is dead in California. We keep talking about a takeover, rather then just starting a new CP party. I guess the support isn’t there for such a party?
Richard, does California allow Electoral Fusion when candiates are listed on multiple ballot lines?
“Does the listing of Myers indicate a rapprochement between the AIP and the national Constitution Party?”
From what I know, J.R. approached the leaders of the AIP in a friendly & diplomatic manner and they agreed to put him on their primary ballot.
If only the members of the California CP, and the leaders of the National CP had taken the same approach and negotiated with Robinson & Seidenberg before, then the whole AIP/CP split might have gotten mended in due time.
Oh well.
Mr. Myers has said that if the CP is unfair to him, he will consider running as the AIP’s presidential candidate.
The AIP Presidential primary is not binding on the Party. They can name their own candidate at their choosing later on. This is more of a “preference poll”
Putting Trump on the ballot, and including independents is perhaps a major coup for the very small cadre of AIP leadership. Trump would be the runaway winner, and with independents voting , the numbers would swell.
IF… and it would be a big IF… Trump decided to run as a third party candidate, the AIP leadership could then offer ballot access for California to Trump for a fee. They could point to a previous Trump victory in the preference poll balloting. A million dollars would be a reasonable price to offer, as it would cost some $3 Million or so for Trump to gain ballot access independently of the AIP. This could greatly enrich AIP leadership, as the control of the AIP is very tightly controlled and not democratically managed.
“Mr. Myers has said that if the CP is unfair to him, he will consider running as the AIP’s presidential candidate.”
Not a bad option.
In that possible event, even if the AIP ran Trump as their candidate, they could at least list J.R. as Trump’s running mate.
I’m open to all possibilities to get this nation back on track.
Let’s make history!
California lets two parties jointly nominate the same presidential candidate. The last time that happened was 1940, when Wendell Willkie was on the ballot as “Republican, Townsend.” Before that, in 1928, Herbert Hoover was listed as “Republican, Prohibition.”
A wise decision in keeping your options open, J.R. Best of luck.
It’s all about providing the voters of CA a real alternative. It’s about credibility for the CP nationally. Those who are getting caught up with personality issues are missing the point. This is the best and ONLY hope for the CP to have ballot access for their nominee in CA. Otherwise, the people of CA will be left without a real constitutional choice for yet another presidential election cycle. It would be a tragedy if that occurs.
Robinson and Seidenberg were Republican Party agents from the start as they still are. There was never any possibility in the slightest degree of ” negotiation ” as their job was to destroy the CP which they did by filing fake documents with the state. Any money which Trump or anyone else pays them will simply be a reward for their criminality. They have absolutely no interest in developing a conservative/3rd party alternative to the GOP as their entire mission was, and still is, to eliminate any such occurance.
Silly, the problem is simply mechanics of voting, and there will always be such dysfunctions under plurality votong.
California already has a Constitutional Party in the Libertarians. So there are choices for voters besides the two major parties.
Unfortunately, there are substantive differences between the CP and LP. While we are natural allies on many fronts, we also have major differences in others. In other words, our constituencies may overlap, but are not identical.