Americans Elect plans to hold an online convention next June and let registered voters from across the country vote to nominate a presidential candidate. The organization is now on the ballot in 12 states. California may have taken the most work. Nicole Winger with the Secretary of State's office says it's not easy for new political parties to qualify:
Winger: "The Americans Elect party needed to collect over 1,030,000 signatures of registered voters in California."
But Americans Elect isn't a political party - at least, not in the traditional sense. It's a non-profit organization, under a completely different section of the tax code. It has different rules governing how it can engage in political activity and it doesn't have to disclose its donors. The organization reportedly spent more than two million dollars collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot.
