On July 5, the Kansas Secretary of State determined that Americans Elect has enough valid signatures on its petition for party status. This is the first newly-qualifying party in Kansas since 1998. The only other ballot-qualified parties in Kansas are the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian and Reform Parties.
Americans Elect is the first party on the ballot in Kansas since 1896 that has more than one word in its name. In 1897 the Kansas legislature had passed a law saying a party could have only one word in its name, other than the word “Party.” The legislature did this because in 1896 the Democratic and Peoples Party had circumvented the state’s ban on fusion by running a single ticket under the party name ”Democratic Peoples Party.”
In 2000, the Natural Law Party won a lawsuit against the one-word restriction. This is an example of how new parties, like Americans Elect, have benefited from past activism of older minor parties.
My crystal ball sees a Richard Winger signed editorial in the Kansas City Star.
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Congrats to AE. Now let’s see how well their online primary will go.
How many states is that now?
It’s weird how Americans Elect seems to have a pattern of turning in their petition signatures months after they were collected.
Andy- Since you are in a position to really understand the petitioning process, do you suspect anything “not quite right” about their petitioning? Just curious.
#6 – Ah yes, the morning’s first hint of a conspiracy theory.
#7… I am NOT into conspiracy theories. If this is the same Andy that posts at IPR he is a professional petition circulator. That is why I asked my question as I did. No conspiracy here. I am just curious as to why they would not file petitions immediately. Seems to me the delay would impact the payment to a circulator if the compensation is tied to the validity rate. Andy would know this stuff.