Americans  Elect is preparing to submit its California ballot access petition for  the 2012 presidential election.  The numbers indicate  that if they can do it here, they can do it everywhere, and will likely  obtain ballot acces in all 50 states.

As reported here at CAIVN nearly two months ago, a new political organization called Americans  Elect has been engaged in a determined effort to obtain ballot access  for the 2012 presidential election in all 50 states.  At the time, the  group had already obtained ballot access in a handful of states and had  collected more than half of the 1,000,000+ signatures necessary to  qualify for ballot access in California.  Over this past weekend, New  York Times columnist Thomas Friedman reported that the group is  preparing to formally submit nearly 1.6 million signatures to the  California Secretary of State in the coming days.

Why  is this so significant?

The more than 1.5 million signatures necessary  to obtain ballot access in California exceeds the total number of  signatures the group will need to collect in order to obtain ballot  access in the other 49 states, according to ballot access expert Richard Winger. With California out of the way, the group will already be halfway toward the total number of signatures required  for ballot access throughout the Union.

As  the group states on its website, it is “not a traditional third party.”   Their “nominating process is open to any qualified candidate and any  registered voter – no matter their party.”  The process appears  relatively simple, despite its obvious complexity.  Registered voters  can become a delegate of the organization by registering on its website  and filling out a questionnaire regarding their political views.  They  will then be put in contact with similarly-minded delegates and asked to  nominate an individual candidate whom they support or to get behind a  candidate who has already been selected by others.

The myriad of  potential candidates will be narrowed to six in an online vote scheduled  for April 2012, and the final candidate will be selected in an online  election two months later.  Candidates must obviously be eligible for  the office, and all will be vetted by an independent committee within  the organization.  The final candidate must choose a running mate who  has a different partisan affiliation than him- or herself.

The  fact that Americans Elect appears very likely to obtain ballot access  in all 50 states raises an obvious question: who is funding it?  In the  New York Times column mentioned above, Thomas Friedman states that the  group is “financed with some serious hedge-fund money.”  In an article  for The Daily Beast, John Avlon provides a bit more detail, reporting that the group’s founder, Peter  Ackerman, and 50 other individuals have loaned the organization $20  million for a projected $30 million budget, which is to be repaid if and  when smaller donors begin contributing to the organization.  Avlon adds  that the group does not accept money from PACs, political parties, or  industry associations.

While  commentators for mainstream, corporate news outlets such as Friedman  and Avlon have been quietly following the development of this  organization for months, with both coincidentally  releasing their  positive assessments of the group in recent days, others have been  investigating it openly and with a critical eye.  Chief among them is Jim Cook of Irregular Times.

After analyzing an incomplete list of donors to Americans Elect that was recently  published by its campaign contribution collector, Cook concludes that  the group has already violated its pledge to avoid accepting any  “special interest money.” One donor, Jim Holbrooke, for instance, is  the CEO of a marketing firm and the chairman of the Promotion Marketing  Association, which is dedicated to pursuing the interests of the  promotion marketing industry, reports Cook.

In a separate analysis,  Cook takes a close look at American Elect’s corporate bylaws, which are  not made freely available by the organization, but have been published  by states where it has already qualified for ballot access.  He finds  that they do not provide for a grassroots political structure, but  rather a four-tiered “political caste system” that runs from the board of  directors, to officers and employees, and finally to members and  delegates.  One provision in the bylaws indicates that “the Board of  Directors may act in a manner that overrules any other provision  of the bylaws,” writes Cook, essentially providing them with the power  to effectively overrule any act by the organization’s actual delegates.

If you’re involved with Americans Elect, let us know what your experience with the organization has been in the comments section.