New Political Party to Appear on California Ballot

A new political party—the Americans Elect—has been certified to appear on California's 2012 presidential election ballot, according to Secretary of State Debra Bowen's office.

On Monday, the Americans Elect Party, which is privately funded, marked the first time a new political party has been certified in California since 1995.

California was the 12th state where Americans Elect qualified to appear on the ballot as it aims to offer a third-party candidate for the White House.

"Californians are looking for a better choice in the electoral process and one that will put an end to partisan gridlock in Washington," said Kellen Arno, Americans Elect's executive director of ballot access and field engagement, in a statement.

Now seven political parties will appear on California's 2012 ballots:

(Source: California Secretary of State)

The Reform Party and the Natural Law Party were both certified in 1995, but the Reform Party lost its status in 2002 and the Natural Law Party lost its status in 2006, according to the state.

There are two ways a political party can qualify for the California ballot—either by registering 103,004 voters who specify that party preference (which is 1 percent of the total number of votes cast in the Nov. 2 general election last year) or by collecting petition signatures of 1,030,040 registered voters (10 percent of total votes cast in the election.)

The Americans Elect Party submitted 1.62 million signatures to qualify for the ballot, Arno said. The deadline for political bodies attempting to qualify for California's June presidential primary ballot is Jan. 22, said this release from the California Secretary of State's office.