Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

by Akua Doku

In the race to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, voters around the United States will decide on November 6, 2012, whether or not, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, should maintain their positions as the two top leaders of this nation. While Mitt Romney, and his future running mate, will fight ferociously, to ensure the only job Barack Obama has on January 22, 2013 is moving out of the White House with his family, especially Bo.

While the Democrats and the Republicans duke it out, hooves against trunks, the registered voters of America will have to determine which candidate is worth their check-mark on the ballot.  This can be a difficult choice when the two major political parties will likely use mudslinging techniques to convince constituents that their opponent isn’t worth any votes. So what is a constituent to do?

Why not try a new political vision by creating your own political party? If you think this task is impossible, you are wrong. The truth is that it’s just plain ole time consuming with a little bit of hard work. Ok a lot of hard work but if you are ready for the job, here is a mitigated guideline, based on several state procedures, to help you start the next great political party of the 21st century. The main thing to know is that each state has different rules, so starting small is not a bad idea until your group grows into a nationwide movement similar to Occupy Wall Street. Now let’s find out what it takes:

Colorado – To establish a political party in Colorado State, you must contact the Colorado State Elections office and ask for the template to register a minor political party. Once the template has been completed, it must be sent to the State Elections office for approval. After it’s been approved, the members of new political coalition must hit the street and collect 10,000 registered voters’ signatures. As soon as the group gets the all of these autographs, they must send the form back with the signatures and the party’s by-laws for review. When all the documents have been accepted, then Colorado will recognize the new political group as a minor political party. Go here to get more on this process.

Utah – Utah may not ask for as many signatures as Colorado to petition for a new political party but they do have guidelines that make digging for gold in Antarctica seem a whole lot easier. Nonetheless, the work may be lengthy, and take up to a year and a half to complete, but the gain will be absolutely worth it when you see your party acknowledged by the state. For more details to register your party in Utah go here.

California – Now with California, a caucus or convention must be held and officers selected by the new political party before filing a notice with the Secretary of State of California. Once this is done, the notice along with the details of the convention should be sent to the Secretary of State that “will [then] notify county elections officials of the name of the political body and its intent to qualify as a political party (Election Code 5002.)”

Following the completion of these tasks, there are two more methods of qualifying as a documented political party, the voter registration method or the petition method. The numbers needed for approval by the state are different for each method. The voter registration method requires “1% of…votes cast at the last gubernatorial election (State of Secretary Debra Brown website.)”  The petition method requires ten percent of those votes.  It is a lot of work to get this done but to be recognized in California is just one step from being a dynamic movement in this country.

This is just a snippet of what it takes to form a political party in a few states in the USA but if you don’t live in any of these states, go here. Here you can get access to each state election committee’s website and phone number for facts on creating your own vision of what a good political party can do for the people of America.