Posted on 05/22/2012 9:11:36 PM PDT by neverdem
Americans Elect, after qualifying for ballot in 29 states, won't nominate a third-party presidential candidate
Americans Elect qualified for the presidential ballot in Oregon and 28 other states, but the group on Thursday said it is abandoning its effort to field a third-party presidential candidate this year.
The well-funded group developed an elaborate online process aimed at attracting millions of voters who would nominate a candidate for president. But the group said that no candidate managed to get enough voter support to participate in an online convention in June.
"We will not hold a June convention," Ileana Wachtel, the group's press secretary, said in a telephone interview. "No candidate qualified for our ballot line."
The group was founded by Wall Street financier Peter Ackerman with the idea of building voter support for a third-party candidate who would not be constrained by the entrenched politics of the two major parties.
But critics complained that Americans Elect disclosed little about its funding and questioned whether it was a stalking horse for someone such as Michael Bloomberg, New York City's billionaire mayor.
The group was never able to attract high-profile candidates to seek its nomination. The two leading candidates, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer and former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, were never able to achieve the support required by the rules of Americans Elect to advance to a convention.
Wachtel said the group was not answering questions yet on the future of the organization. But for 2012, the group's ballot line in Oregon and the 28 other states will go unused, she said.
UPDATE: What happens to the Americans Elect ballot line in Oregon? It could be worth something, given that the party is qualified to field a candidate for any partisan office.
Portland lawyer Dan Meek, who has been involved in the founding of two minor parties in the state -- the Independent Party and the Progressive Party -- says the answer to that question could be interesting.
"There's no state law governing who files the initial bylaws and who selected the officers of a newly formed minor party," he said. That opens the possibility a group of Oregon voters could register as members of the Americans Elect party and try to take it over.
Meek said the secretary of state's office has in the past respected party bylaws submitted by the chief sponsor of a petition drive to qualify a minor party. The chief sponsor of the Americans Elect party in Oregon is Kahlil Byrd, who is the chief executive officer of the national Americans Elect organization in Washington, D.C.
So far, according to the state Elections Division, no one has filed bylaws to govern an Americans Elect party in Oregon.
"The interesting question is what happens if Byrd just does nothing," Meek said. "At some point you would think that actual Americans Elect Party of Oregon members would be able to get together and file bylaws and a slate of officers."
--Jeff Mapes
I suspect that the line will get filled in a number of states by supporters of one or more potential candidates.
I smell a rat. They’ll keep this in their pocket “just in case” Obama needs a “Ross Perot” to save his campaign.
Thanks neverdem.
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Thanks for the ping!
I believe this means the qualified for the ballot in ten more states than the Constitution Party has.
ouch...so mean to belittle the already tiny Constitution Party.....
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