Americans Elect Party of Arizona

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The Americans Elect Party of Arizona is a political party. As of September 2019, it was not a ballot-qualified party in Arizona. The group shared in the mission of the Americans Elect organization, which aimed to nominate a 2012 presidential candidate through a national online vote. The party is headquartered in Lakeside, Arizona.[1]

Note: This party was previously ballot-qualified in Arizona. As of March 8, 2022, it is no longer ballot-qualified. The content here reflects the most current information as of March 8, 2022.

Background

Ballot access for political parties

See also: List of political parties in the United States


As of January 2025, there were at least 55 distinct ballot-qualified political parties in the United States. There were 238 state-level parties.[2] Some parties are recognized in multiple states. For example, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are recognized in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. These two parties account for more than half of the 238 total state-level parties.[3][4][5] Three minor parties were recognized in more than 10 states as of January 2025:

  1. Libertarian Party: 38 states
  2. Green Party: 23 states[6]
  3. Constitution Party: 12 states[7]

Although there are dozens of political parties in the United States, only certain parties qualify to have the names of their candidates for office printed on election ballots. In order to qualify for ballot placement, a party must meet certain requirements that vary from state to state. For example, in some states, a party may have to file a petition in order to qualify for ballot placement. In other states, a party must organize around a candidate for a specific office; that candidate must, in turn, win a percentage of the vote in order for the party to be granted ballot status. In still other states, an aspiring political party must register a certain number of voters.

The number of ballot-qualified political parties fluctuates as parties gain or lose qualified status. In addition, some states distinguish between major parties and minor parties. Specific differences between major and minor parties differ from state to state. For example, in all states, major parties are granted access to primary elections. Some states, however, do not permit minor parties to participate in primary elections. Consequently, minor party candidates in these states can run only in general elections.[3]

The table below lists all ballot-qualified political parties in each state as of January 2025. Click "[show]" to expand the table.[3]


Americans Elect Party of Arizona
Aeaz.jpg
Basic facts
Location:Lakeside, Ariz.
Type:Political party
Affiliation:Americans Elect
Top official:J.L. Mealer, Chairman
Year founded:2012
Website:Official website

The Americans Elect Party of Arizona (AEAZ) is a minor political party in Arizona. According to the organization's archived website, the party "gives voters the opportunity to elect candidates based solely on the principles they stand for rather than party politics."[8]

The AEAZ was formed in response to Americans Elect, a national nonprofit organization that aimed to nominate a presidential candidate through a national online vote in 2012. The group submitted a signature petition to the Arizona secretary of state and became a recognized political party with ballot access in 2012. Though Americans Elect failed to nominate a presidential candidate in 2012, AEAZ remained active and supported Stephen Dolgos for Arizona's 8th Congressional District and Richard Grayson for Arizona's 1st Congressional District during the 2012 election cycle. In 2014, the party supported Stephen Dolgos for Arizona's 8th Congressional District and J.L. Mealer for governor of Arizona. Mealer earned 0.99 percent of the statewide gubernatorial vote, which fell short of the five percent required to maintain the party's ballot access.[9][10][11]

As of February 2016, the status of AEAZ was unclear. The party's website was inactive and the group was no longer a recognized political party in Arizona. However, the party's chairman, John Mealer, remains active and established the American Public Servant Party of Arizona in November 2015.[12][13]

The AEAZ is not affiliated with Arizona Americans Elect, a separate political organization in the state.[14]

Platform

The party's stated platform is composed of three main issues:[8]

  • Economy
    "The candidates under Americans Elect of Arizona carry the determination and unyielding drive to revitalize and rejuvenate Arizona’s economy by returning the business sector to an even playing field where small businesses may compete with the global giants who tend to buy political clout."
  • Founding principles
    "Americans Elect of Arizona is about protecting the Bill of Rights and following the Constitution of both Arizona and the United States of America."
  • People's government
    "We can elect independent candidates and return control of government to the people."

Rules and bylaws

The state party is governed by a set of rules and bylaws. Typically, these give structure to the different levels of organization—local, county, and state committees—and establish protocol for electing committee members. The bylaws also typically give details on the party's process for nominating and sending delegates to the national party convention during presidential elections. As of February 2016, the rules and bylaws of the Americans Elect Party of Arizona were not publicly available.

Convention

As of February 2016, the Americans Elect Party of Arizona did not have a scheduled 2016 state convention.

Leadership

The following individuals hold leadership positions with the Americans Elect Party of Arizona:[1]

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Americans Elect Party of Arizona. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Americans Elect Party of Arizona - Google News

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Arizona Secretary of State, "2016 interim campaign finance report," January 26, 2016
  2. ↑ This total does not include parties that have attained ballot status at the municipal level. Only those parties with state-level ballot status are included here.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jaime Healy-Plotkin, "Research of state election agency websites and email correspondence with state election agencies," June 2024
  4. ↑ As of January 2025, there were nine state-level parties that called themselves Independent or Independence parties. For the purposes of this article, these were not tallied when counting the number of distinct ballot-qualified parties in the United States because it is difficult to determine to what extent these various parties are affiliated with one another.
  5. ↑ Because Washington utilizes a top-two, nonpartisan primary system, the state does not officially recognize parties. Consequently, only the state's two largest parties, the Democratic and Republican parties, were included in this tally.
  6. ↑ This figure includes the D.C. Statehood Green Party, Maine's Green Independent Party, Oregon's Pacific Green Party, and West Virginia's Mountain Party.
  7. ↑ This figure includes Nevada's Independent American Party and Michigan's U.S. Taxpayers Party.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Americans Elect of Arizona, "Home," accessed February 26, 2016
    The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine was used to recall this version of the website from October 30, 2014.
  9. ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Continued representation of political parties for 2014 election cycle," accessed February 26, 2016
  10. ↑ Ballot Access News, "Americans Elect Party Loses Qualified Status in Arizona," November 5, 2014
  11. ↑ Ballot Access News, "Americans Elect Submits its Petition for Ballot Status in Arizona," May 6, 2011
  12. ↑ JLMealer.com, "Constitution of 'American Public Servant Party' of Arizona," November 1, 2015
  13. ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Recognized political parties," accessed February 26, 2016
  14. ↑ Mealer Companies, "John Mealer, JL Mealer Arizona Governor 2014," accessed February 26, 2014
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