Americans Elect Party Ends Effort for President
Oklahoma Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax announced at the end of March that Americans Elect had gathered more than 68,000 signatures and became a recognized political party in the state. Based on the number of votes cast in the last general election, a minimum of 51,739 signatures from registered voters is currently required to become a recognized political party in Oklahoma. Former Oklahoma Gov. and U.S. Sen. David Boren gave his support to the Americans Elect effort and spoke at the press conference following the delivery of the signatures to the state Election Board.
Americans Elect was incorporated on April 6, 2010 by Peter Ackerman who serves as chairman and kicked off the venture with a $5 million contribution. Ackerman was an Obama supporter in 2008 and abandoned a similar online effort that year called Unity08. The CEO of the organization is Kahlil Byrd, a Republican who formerly served as communications director for Democrat Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Patrick's chief campaign strategist was David Axelrod who is Obama's chief political strategist. The group's advisory board includes Lawrence Lessig, an Obama technology adviser.
According to its bylaws, Americans Elect intended to host a national online primary ending with a convention in June. It opened its website to begin recruiting delegates for the 2012 Presidential Primary in July 2011. The first phase of voting in the online primary was to identify the six most popular candidates to advance to the second phase of the primary after accepting the Americans Elect nomination and selecting a Vice-Presidential running mate affiliated with any party other than their own. By the end of the second phase, the six finalists were to be narrowed down to two. Americans Elect would then choose its final candidate through an internet based convention..
Byrd said in a statement on the Americans Elect website: "There is a desire among Delegates and millions of Americans who have supported Americans Elect to see a credible candidate emerge from this process. However, the rules, as developed in consultation with the Americans Elect Delegates, are clear. As of this week, no candidate achieved the national support threshold required to enter the Americans Elect Online Convention in June. The primary process for the Americans Elect nomination has come to an end."
Under its rules, candidates were required to generate online votes of at least 1,000 people in each of at least 10 states. Of the candidates who made themselves available, the frontrunner was Buddy Roemer, the former governor of Louisiana. But, he only garnered 5,979 supporters -- more than 4,000 short in total and even further behind on an individual state basis. Among the candidates "drafted" by delegates, Ron Paul topped the list with 9,337 supporters, which was still under the threshold. Also, Paul was still running as a presidential candidate for the Republican Party and refused to make himself available for the AE nomination. More than 95% of delegates failed to back any candidate.
Americans Elect said that it has begun paying back donors who gave more than $10,000 which was the level above which contributions were classified as loans. Much of the $35 million raised has already been spent, including $15 million on ballot access in the 50 states and $10 million setting up the organizational and online infrastructure to run an internet election. As a result, donors who gave less than the $10,000 cut-off are unlikely to be reimbursed.
Skeptics charge that the group's real mission was to divide the anti-Obama vote. While third-party presidential candidates never win, they usually tilt the outcome to the Democrat candidate. In 1992, Bill Clinton won the presidency with 43% of the vote, with Ross Perot siphoning off 20%, leaving President George Bush with 38%. In the presidential election of 1912, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was victorious with 42% of the vote, while Republican President William Howard Taft finished third with 23% of the vote, behind former President Theodore Roosevelt who received 27%.
Americans Elect Party Ends
Ackerman has hinted that he might be interested in an effort to recruit a wave of AE congressional candidates in 2014.
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