Americans Elect
Encyclopedia
Americans Elect is an organization created to allow American voters to participate in an alternative nominating process to identify a candidate for the 2012 U.S. presidential election
through the internet
. While Americans Elect will have the status of a party, the candidates will be approved by a selection committee, without being partisan
. From the pool of candidates, people will openly vote online. In the US, 3 million signatures are required for ballot access
in all 50 states, and as of November 2011, Americans Elect has collected over 2 million.
, Kansas
, Nevada
, Michigan
, Florida
, Ohio
, Alaska
, Utah
, Colorado
and Arkansas
. The organization is attempting the process of being accredited in every US state, allowing it to place candidates on presidential ballots nationwide. It claims to have acquired the 1,030,040 valid signatures required to do so in California
and has submitted them.
A decision of the Candidate Certification Committee can be nullified by a two-thirds vote of all registered delegates. Other than that, the bylaws do not provide any mechanism for direct or indirect representation of members or delegates in the certification of proposed candidates.
AE's rules say any nominee must be “considered someone of similar stature to our previous presidents.”
, after a process open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation. The intent is to provide a more open nominating process, resulting in better choices during the election.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is Kahlil Byrd, and the chairman is Peter Ackerman
. The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is Joshua S. Levine. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is Elliot Ackerman, son of Peter Ackerman
. Tom Sansonetti
and Chris Arterton are co-chairs of the rules committee. Wendy Drake is the (Chief Leadership Officer). Sarah Malm (Chief Communications Officer) and Daniel Winslow
(Chief Legal Counsel) are listed as senior staff.
, father of the Chief Operating Officer Elliot Ackerman, had contributed $1.55 million. In 2011, it changed its designation to a 501(c)4 social welfare group. Chief Executive Kahlil Byrd states between 300 and 400 donors have given Americans Elect $20 million, with no contribution exceeding $5 million. He states that the major donations are technically low-interest loans, the bulk of which the organization says it intends to pay back as it widens its contribution base so that no single individual will have contributed more than $10K. At their website, Americans Elect states that they are a nonpartisan
, nonprofit organization that is funded by individual contributions. AE claims that none of its funding comes from special interests or lobbyists.
The group has been criticized for failure to fully disclose its funding. Elliot Ackerman said that it is up to donors to determine whether they want to be identified and defended the group saying, "I think that's an unfortunate testament to the status of our political landscape that people feel uncomfortable about disclosing the fact that they're supporting an open nominating process." However, Fred Wertheimer
, known for his work on campaign finance reform, said, "They must be trying to hide from the public who their donors are. This is a very strange way for a group to act that is complaining about the state of American politics".
.
United States presidential election, 2012
The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next United States presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United...
through the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. While Americans Elect will have the status of a party, the candidates will be approved by a selection committee, without being partisan
Partisan
-Political matters:*Partisan In politics, partisan literally means organized into political parties. The expression "partisan politics" usually refers to fervent, sometimes militant, support of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea...
. From the pool of candidates, people will openly vote online. In the US, 3 million signatures are required for ballot access
Ballot access
Ballot access rules, called nomination rules outside the United States, regulate the conditions under which a candidate or political party is either entitled to stand for election or to appear on voters' ballots...
in all 50 states, and as of November 2011, Americans Elect has collected over 2 million.
Ballot status
Americans Elect has gained ballot status in ArizonaArizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. The organization is attempting the process of being accredited in every US state, allowing it to place candidates on presidential ballots nationwide. It claims to have acquired the 1,030,040 valid signatures required to do so in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and has submitted them.
Certification by committee
Each proposed candidate must be certified by the group's Candidate Certification Committee as capable of performing the duties of office. According to the bylaws, this is done using criteria of demonstrated achievements (developed by the committee) that are based on qualifications of past presidents and vice presidents. The members of the Candidate Certification Committee are appointed by the Board of Directors, as are the members of the board itself.A decision of the Candidate Certification Committee can be nullified by a two-thirds vote of all registered delegates. Other than that, the bylaws do not provide any mechanism for direct or indirect representation of members or delegates in the certification of proposed candidates.
AE's rules say any nominee must be “considered someone of similar stature to our previous presidents.”
Candidate party affiliation
Americans Elect is open to candidates from any party. When a candidate chooses a running mate, they must choose someone from a party different from their own.Nominating one certified candidate
The organization intends to narrow down its field of candidates in April 2012, after which the remaining six candidates must choose their running mates. Then, in June 2012, Americans Elect will choose its final candidate through an internet based conventionPolitical convention
In politics, a political convention is a meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates.In the United States, a political convention usually refers to a presidential nominating convention, but it can also refer to state, county, or congressional district nominating conventions...
, after a process open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation. The intent is to provide a more open nominating process, resulting in better choices during the election.
Organization
Americans Elect was formed by many of the individuals who were responsible for a previous attempt to nominate an internet candidate, Unity 08, and has substantially identical goals for the 2012 presidential election cycle.The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is Kahlil Byrd, and the chairman is Peter Ackerman
Peter Ackerman
Peter Ackerman is the founding chair of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and the managing director of Rockport Capital Incorporated. He chaired the board of trustees of Freedom House from September 2005 until January 2009. He is a member of the Board of the Council on Foreign...
. The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is Joshua S. Levine. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is Elliot Ackerman, son of Peter Ackerman
Peter Ackerman
Peter Ackerman is the founding chair of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and the managing director of Rockport Capital Incorporated. He chaired the board of trustees of Freedom House from September 2005 until January 2009. He is a member of the Board of the Council on Foreign...
. Tom Sansonetti
Tom Sansonetti
Thomas Lawrence Sansonetti, known as Tom Sansonetti , is an attorney and a government official from the U.S. state of Wyoming. He now resides in Greenwood Village, a suburb of Denver, Colorado....
and Chris Arterton are co-chairs of the rules committee. Wendy Drake is the (Chief Leadership Officer). Sarah Malm (Chief Communications Officer) and Daniel Winslow
Daniel Winslow
Daniel "Dan" Winslow is an American Lawyer, Republican Party Politician, and former presiding justice of the Wrentham District Court. He is currently Senior Counsel at Proskauer Rose law firm in Boston and also the State Representative for the Ninth Norfolk district...
(Chief Legal Counsel) are listed as senior staff.
Funding
The group was originally organized as a political organization and at that time tax documents show that Peter AckermanPeter Ackerman
Peter Ackerman is the founding chair of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and the managing director of Rockport Capital Incorporated. He chaired the board of trustees of Freedom House from September 2005 until January 2009. He is a member of the Board of the Council on Foreign...
, father of the Chief Operating Officer Elliot Ackerman, had contributed $1.55 million. In 2011, it changed its designation to a 501(c)4 social welfare group. Chief Executive Kahlil Byrd states between 300 and 400 donors have given Americans Elect $20 million, with no contribution exceeding $5 million. He states that the major donations are technically low-interest loans, the bulk of which the organization says it intends to pay back as it widens its contribution base so that no single individual will have contributed more than $10K. At their website, Americans Elect states that they are a nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
, nonprofit organization that is funded by individual contributions. AE claims that none of its funding comes from special interests or lobbyists.
The group has been criticized for failure to fully disclose its funding. Elliot Ackerman said that it is up to donors to determine whether they want to be identified and defended the group saying, "I think that's an unfortunate testament to the status of our political landscape that people feel uncomfortable about disclosing the fact that they're supporting an open nominating process." However, Fred Wertheimer
Fred Wertheimer
Fredric Michael "Fred" Wertheimer is an American activist notable for his work on campaign finance reform. He served as president of Common Cause and is currently the President and CEO of Democracy 21 and Democracy 21 Education Fund, which he founded in 1997.He has received honorary Doctorates...
, known for his work on campaign finance reform, said, "They must be trying to hide from the public who their donors are. This is a very strange way for a group to act that is complaining about the state of American politics".
Association with Arno Political Consultants
Americans Elect's web site (retrieved 2011-09-24) lists Kellen Arno as National Field Director and Michael Arno as Ballot Access Advisor for Americans Elect. Michael Arno is the president of Arno Political ConsultantsArno Political Consultants
Arno Political Consultants, Inc. is a company based in Lincoln, California. The company was founded in 1979 by Michael Arno.The company reports that its former and current clients include the National Rifle Association and R. J...
.