Article 2. Qualification Of Candidates For Presidential Preference Portion Of Primary Ballot of California Elections Code >> Division 6. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 2.

The Secretary of State shall place the name of a candidate upon the American Independent Party presidential preference ballot when the Secretary of State has determined that the candidate is generally advocated for or recognized in the news media throughout the United States or California as actively seeking the nomination of the American Independent Party for President of the United States. On or before the 120th day preceding a presidential primary election, the Secretary of State shall publicly announce and distribute to the news media for publication a list of the candidates he or she intends to place on the ballot at the following presidential primary election. Following this announcement he or she may add candidates to his or her selection, but he or she may not delete any candidate whose name appears on the announced list.

When the Secretary of State decides to place the name of a candidate on the ballot pursuant to Section 6520, he or she shall notify the candidate that his or her name will appear on the ballot of this state in the presidential primary. The Secretary of State shall also notify the candidate that he or she may withdraw his or her name from the ballot by filing with the Secretary of State an affidavit pursuant to Section 6522, no later than the 68th day before that election.

If a selected candidate or an unselected candidate files with the Secretary of State, no later than the 68th day before the presidential primary, an affidavit stating without qualification that he or she is not now a candidate for the office of President of the United States at the forthcoming presidential primary election, his or her name shall be omitted from the list of names certified by the Secretary of State to the county elections officials for the ballot and his or her name shall not appear on the presidential preference portion of the primary ballot.

Any unselected candidate desiring to have his or her name placed on the presidential preference primary ballot without filing a group of candidates for delegates, shall have nomination papers circulated in his or her behalf. In order to qualify his or her name for placement on the presidential preference primary ballot, the candidate's nomination papers shall be signed by voters registered as affiliated with the American Independent Party equal in number to not less than 1 percent of the number of persons registered as members of the American Independent Party as reflected in the report of registration issued by the Secretary of State on the 135th day preceding the presidential primary election.

The name of any presidential candidate, to whom are pledged a group of candidates who have qualified by petition for the delegate selection portion of the presidential primary ballot, shall, in addition, be automatically placed on the presidential preference portion of the ballot, without the filing of a separate petition for the presidential preference portion of the ballot.