On April 26, 2022, Peter Ackerman died unexpectedly at 75. He was very wealthy and used some of his wealth to found Americans Elect in 2010. It was to be a centrist political party intended to run a presidential candidate in 2012. Because the group didn’t know the identity of its future presidential candidate, Ackerman funded petition drives to put the party on the ballot, in almost all of the states that don’t require a group to have chosen its nominee in advance of petitioning for ballot access.
Americans Elect qualified as a party in 29 states and then held an on-line presidential primary. Any registered voter in the U.S. was free to participate in that primary, if the individual was a registered voter and signed up with Americans Elect. The party rules required the winner to obtain a particular number of votes, and no one who entered the presidential primary received enough votes to qualify. So, Americans Elect did not run anyone for president in 2012, and mostly vanished from state ballots.
Ackerman also funded the lawsuit Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission, hoping to force the FEC to stop the Commission on Presidential Debates from taking corporate money to sponsor debates that were discriminatory. He also helped fund the initiative in Maine to use ranked choice voting. And he was active in fighting authoritarianism around the world. See these tributes. Thanks to Chad Peace for this news.
American Elect was probably the biggest political flop in the history of the country. I think it was actually a sham organization, because their by-laws said that if their national committee (which consisted of ruling establishment types) felt that the candidate who won the internet primary was not appropriate for the mission of Americans Elect, that the national committee could disregard the result of the internet convention and appoint somebody as a candidate.
I think they folded after they realized there was no real threat to the ruling establishment in the race, with the LP running Gary Johnson, and no body else of significance in the race, plus the major parties having Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. The establishment was really afraid of Ron Paul, or a Ron Paul type of candidate emerging as a minor party or independent.
Is the No Labels Party going to be Americans Elect 2.0?
maybe
Weren’t there issues with the legal status of this organization. I vaguely remember some controversy about the party being organization as a non-profit. Fundraising was problematic too. They started using small donations to pay back large donors. Regardless these issues they should have just let whoever won the primary run on their ballot lines.
A lot of the donations to Americans Elect got funneled through non-profits as a way to hide who the donors were.
Former Louisiana Governor and Congressman Buddy Roemer won the Americans Elect primary.
He also “died” recently. Is there a purge going on of AE people?
Buddy Roemer died one year ago, on May 17, 2021.
I’m trying to reach the late Peter Ackerman’s wife. She and Peter were close friends of mine and my wife Joan McCall who passed on a few weeks ago. I want to send a copy of Joan’s obituary. Do you have an email address for Peters wife that you send to me. I would be eternally grateful. Joan’s obituary was published in the LA Times this past Sunday.
I’m going to guess that very few elderly widows of megawealthy people have email addresses which they actually check which are public information, or which anyone who doesn’t already know you would give you just because you say you used to be friends. If you were actually friends, you probably have other friends or mutual acquaintances in common who would probably prove more helpful than a message on a public forum. Go through your contacts, rollodex, or whatever you use for such things. If that’s not helpful, there’s a good chance she will have an attorney, secretary, assistant, or someone of that nature who can pass along the message that you’re trying to get a hold of her and your contact information.
Sorry to be harsh. My condolences on your loss and good luck with your quest.
Finally as a word of advice, your name link doesn’t work. If you check back here you may want to leave your own contact information, in case anyone reading does in fact wish to assist with your query.