Americans Elect cleared for ballot
By Steve Terrell | The New MexicanPosted: 2/3/2012, 8:00 PM Mountain time
Americans Elect — a nonpartisan organization that will nominate a presidential ticket by way of an online "convention" -- submitted enough signatures to be on this year's general election ballot, the state election director said Friday.
Bobbi Shearer told a reporter that the group, which submitted nearly 7,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of State's Office in January, has enough verified signatures to get on the ballot.
Candidates nominated for president and vice president by Americans Elect will be on November's ballot, Shearer said, though she noted she hadn't yet done the paperwork to formally certify the group.
Americans Elect was established last year with the stated purpose of getting ordinary citizens -- not the bases of the major parties -- involved in the nominating process. All registered voters in the country who have access to a computer are allowed to become delegates.
The group says it wants to take the "hyper-partisanship" and "special interests" out of presidential politics.
Chief Operating Officer Elliot Akerman, in an interview in December, said Americans Elect will determine a platform of issues via debates and votes on the Internet. Delegates will determine which candidate best matches the platform.
Finalists then must choose their vice presidents. A running mate cannot be someone who belongs to the same party of the presidential candidate.
In June, delegates will vote in an online convention to see who will be the Americans Elect presidential candidate.
At least 12 other states already have put Americans Elect on the general election ballot. The most recent was California. The other states include Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Colorado, Nevada -- all expected to be battleground states for the presidency -- as well as Arizona, Arkansas, Utah, Alaska, Mississippi and Kansas.
Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.
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