Cody Quirk, one of the editors of Third Party Watch, has done some hard work analyzing the rules for American Independent Party structure. See here. Of course, this subject is timely because of the recent dispute in the California AIP, over whom the proper state officers are, whom the presidential candidate should be, and which state convention (Los Angeles at the end of June, or Sacramento on July 5-6) is valid.
The California legislature passed a bill in 1975, setting out the rules by which the American Independent Party, and also the Peace & Freedom Party, should organize themselves. Back then, state legislators in some states, including California, thought it was the duty of government to place party organization rules in the election laws.
In 1984, some county units of the Democratic and Republican Parties of California, and the state Libertarian Party, brought a lawsuit in federal court, alleging that the First Amendment protects the right of political parties to decide on their own organization and rules, without government involvement. The parties won that lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1989; the decision is Eu v San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee.
Neverthless, the bills passed by the California legislature in 1975, setting forth internal party rules for PFP and AIP, had been written by leaders of those two parties. The California election laws governing those parties’ rules are still in the Election Code. Both parties, in their own Bylaws, do acknowledge that the parties accept those parts of the Election Code as their legitimate rules. There are no California election code sections that apply specifically to the Green Party, or the Libertarian Party. When the Libertarian Party qualified for the ballot in 1980, and when the Green Party qualified for the ballot in 1992, both parties told the Secretary of State that they wish to follow the Peace & Freedom code sections, although since then both parties have made changes.
