On April 13, Americans Elect turned in its petition for party status in Arizona. The counties are checking the signatures now, and expect to be finished by May 13. Assuming the petition is valid, Americans Elect will then be ballot-qualified for 2012 in three states. The other two are Nevada and Florida.
Americans Elect wants to choose a presidential nominee in the summer of 2012, in which all U.S. voters would be eligible to participate. The group hopes to nominate a presidential candidate via internet voting. Americans Elect does not desire to have candidates for any office other than President and Vice-President (and presidential electors, of course).
I’ll be interested to see how they write their party by-laws here in Texas to prevent anyone from running for an office under the AE Party in 2012. Assuming they get on the ballot via the party petition road which will be easier than independent candidate petition.
Frankly it seems like they would get more gravity by running multiple candidates for office under party banners (unless nutjobs come out of the woodwork to run). I wonder if their strategic objective though is to garner enough votes to establish future ballot access and continue any momentum they may get with a quality 2012 presidentail candidate. My guess is that Ron Paul will win AE’s internet voting.
This petition drive was completed a few months ago (back in December I think). Why are they just now getting around to turning the signatures in to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office?
#2, I don’t know. They finished Alaska last year and that still isn’t turned in.
What about Kansas? Did Americans Elect ever turn in their signatures in that state?
A consideration of Americans Elect’s California petition, text apparently missing from it, and the resistance the petition has encountered: http://wp.me/pdWLh-742
I’d appreciate your feedback.
There’s no text missing from the Americans Elect petition in California. That is what petitions to place political parties or candidates on the ballot generally look like.
Anyone who told you that text is missing from the Americans Elect petition in California doesn’t know what in the hell they are talking about.
Thanks for your feedback, Andy. The two parallel California petitions’ text I’ve been able to locate DO contain text that’s not on the Americans Elect petition. Other than the Americans Elect petition, do you have any links handy to petitions under California code 5100c that don’t have a declaration that signers “represent” a political party?
I don’t have that information on me, but I can tell you that the California Secretary of State’s office would not have approved circulation of the petition if the wording on the petition was not legally correct.
Andy, I spoke directly this week with Dierdre Avent, who is the point person in the California Secretary of State’s office for political party ballot petitions. She told me point blank that she has not reviewed the petition, that she has informed groups trying this route like Americans Elect and America’s Third Party that they need to have their own lawyers vet and clear the petitions. According to Avent, it is not the California Secretary of State’s office but rather county officials who will be judging the validity of the petitions upon their submission.
Does anyone here have a copy of a petition under California Elections Code 5100c that doesn’t have a declaration that signers “represent” a political party? That’s a sincere question, not a rhetorical one; it would help establish precedent beyond the two other petitions (Independent Progressive Party and America’s Third party) I’ve seen so far.
I am the person who created the petition for America’s Third Party. The Secretary of State has not reviewed this and they are very hesitant to send any formal Sample Petition for use. It will be interesting to see is Americans Elect does qualify for Ballot Access without the declaration that signers “represent” a political party under California Elections Code 5100c. If they do qualify, I will be changing our petition in the future.
@Jim Cook – you have an interesting blog (http://irregulartimes.com/) and I’ll be following it in the future.
@Andy, My goal is to create petitions for President for every state. Since you have a lot of experience, can you help me by looking over them and letting me know what you think. I can’t afford to pay petitioners at this time. I would appreciate any insight you have. You can email me at americasthirdparty@gmail.com – The petitions are under each state at http://www.americasthirdparty.com/wiki – Right now I have most of the A states posted. I will be contacting (via email) Secretaries of States to see if others have required forms or I need to create my own.
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“@Andy, My goal is to create petitions for President for every state.”
Parties and candidates don’t “create” their own petitions. They use the petitions that are already made by each state’s Secretary of State’s office (and/or Department of Elections). Most states have the forms available for download on their websites.
“Since you have a lot of experience, can you help me by looking over them and letting me know what you think.”
It doesn’t matter what I think of the petition forms since I’m not part of the Secretary of State’s office or Department of Elections in any state.
“I can’t afford to pay petitioners at this time. I would appreciate any insight you have.”
If you can’t afford to pay petitioners you won’t make it on the ballot.
There is one state that I know of where you can design your own petition form (their state has one, but you aren’t required to use it). However, their Secretary of State’s office still has to approve the language you put on the petition.
If there is something legally incorrect with Americans Elect petition in California then it will end up being disqualified and they won’t make the ballot. I seriously doubt that Americans Elect would be so careless as to get signatures on a petition that is not legally correct. I’d be suprised if there is something wrong with the form they are using.
As the article I wrote on the subject points out, Andy, I’m not interested in legal correctness, not least because one does not mess with lawyers. I agree with you that Americans Elect will ensure that their activity meets legal standards one way or another. I think it’s interesting in a substantive, not legal, way that the language on the Americans Elect petition differs from the language other two Section 5100c petitions I’ve been able to look at. It is also the only of the three groups that claims in public not to be a political party.