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California Qualifies New Political Party For Upcoming Ballot

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – A new political party that aims to change the way we elect a president is gaining momentum. The Americans Elect group has collected enough signatures to appear on the June Primary ballot.

Americans Elect is a group that is tired of the status quo, which considers itself not as much of a political party but an alternative nominating process. They hope to offer a presidential candidate whose not beholden to any particular party. Elliot Ackerman is Chief Operating officer. He said that this week's certification by California was a big step.

KCBS' Holly Quan Reports:

"The petition in California represents 1.62 million out of the 2.9 million signatures that we need to get on the ballot in all 50 states," said Ackerman. "By the end of the year we will have 2.5 million of the 2.9 million signatures that we need to get on the ballot for 2012."

Samuel Abrams is a political scientist at Stanford's Hoover Institution. He said that Americans Elect could be a game changer depending on who their presidential nominee is.

"We hear a lot of talk about people like Michael Bloomberg as being a potential candidate that could do this," said Abrams. "At this point, my sense is that they're simply trying to create access to the ballot before figuring out who they'd like to put forward onto the ballot."

California is the 13th state to qualify the party for the ballot.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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