Sometime during the first week in October, the Americans Elect web page updated the number of signatures that have been obtained on the group’s ballot access petitions so far this year. The new national total is 1,829,264. That contrasts with 1,755,557, the figure that had been posted on August 30.

Because Americans Elect submitted 1,621,627 signatures in California, a simple subtraction shows that Americans Elect has collected 207,637 signatures outside of California so far.

By mid-October of 1995, the Reform Party had only begun ballot access petitioning or registration activity in California, so Americans Elect is ahead of the Reform Party, for this point in the cycle. However, the Reform Party had the advantage that it would soon be recognized in Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Virginia, without having to petition, based on already-qualified state parties in those four states that were about to affiliate with the national Reform Party.

The 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary date is still unknown. However, no matter what date is chosen, it is likely that the 2012 presidential primary season will be the first in the nation’s history to last more than five months. For this post, “presidential primary season” means the length of time between the first presidential primary and the last one; it does not include caucuses, or straw polls.

Presidential primaries will be 100 years old next year. In the years 1912 through 1972, no presidential primary was ever earlier than March. The presidential primary season ended, in those years, in either May or the first week in June. The season couldn’t last longer, because in the first half of the 20th century, presidential conventions were usually in June. In 1976 through 1996, the earliest presidential primary was in late February. The earliest primary in 2000 was in early February. Starting in 2004, the earliest primary has been in January. Still, before 2012, the presidential primary season has never exceeded five months.

2012 will be the longest season because (1) Utah is holding its presidential primary on June 26, the latest presidential primary in U.S. history; and (2) New Hampshire will almost certainly hold a primary that is earlier than any previous presidential primary in U.S. history.

On the whole, 2012 presidential primaries will be later than they were in any election since 1992. In 2012, half the presidential primaries will not be over until April 3, a later median date than any election since 1992, when the median date was April 7. The 2008 median primary date was February 12.