3 ways to add Gore on the California Primary Ballot

I need some help from others in California to definitively get Al Gore on the California Democratic Primary Ballot. As I see it, there are THREE "easy" ways to do this. All of them are based on the laws governing the California Democratic Primary process.

CA Election Code, Section 6041:

"6041. The Secretary of State shall place the name of a candidate
upon the presidential primary ballot when he or she has determined
that the candidate is generally advocated for or recognized
throughout the United States or California as actively seeking the
nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United
States."

Option 1: We demonstrate to Sec. of State Debra Bowen that Al Gore is "generally advocated for" in California by directing a letter/email/petition campaign to her. maybe it is enough to forward those California Signatures we already have.

As a corollary to this, we could also try and pass a resolution at the upcoming California Democratic Convention at the end of April in San Diego that would instruct Bowen that the Democratic Party feels that Gore is generally advocated for. We don't have a lot of time to get this together, and we need 25 delegates to sign it to get it introduced. I am one, and I could probably scrape up another 5 to 10, but I would like to get them from all over California, if possible.

Option 2: Section 6060

This involves the process for adding any candidates that the Sec. of State did not select in Section 6041, above ("unselected candidates"). To have an unselected candidate qualify for the California Democratic Primary Ballot, we will need to collect 500 valid signatures from EACH of the 53 Congressional Districts in California.

Unfortunately, there is only a small window when this can be done, the 150th day before the election to the 63rd day before the election. See the calendar here. That means that the petitions need to be signed between September 8th and December 4th.

Option 3: This is essentially the same as Option 2, but instead of circulating a petition for a specific unselected candidate (Gore) we circulate petitions as an "uncommitted delegation." Maybe we call the delegation the "Draft Gore" delegation, and be put on the ballot that way. We can be elected to the National Convention and be free to vote how we like.

Those are the ideas. I obviously need help. I don't know who has access to the Draft Gore petition signatories, but it would be great if we had a database of that information and could see how many signatures we got from each Congressional District in California. If we have anywhere near the 500 in each CD, I think we should organize it in that way and send it to Debra Bowen to show that Gore is "generally advocated for."

If she still doesn't list his as a selected candidate, we can send petitions for each of these people to sign in the appropriate window to either select him or to create a Draft Gore Delegation to the Convention.

Any thoughts much appreciated!


dear marchmoon, I'm awaiting

dear marchmoon,
I'm awaiting approval into the group, but I am in the san Gabriel valley, I will help you in any way I can my e-mail is mcgeealijean@msn.com.

Hopw to hear from you soon.


Thanks for the info marchmoon

I was wondering - say the required signatures are indeed collected. Does Gore then have to sign off and certify that he accepts a place on the ballot?

Also, I'm compiling a spreadsheet that looks at the requirements needed in every state to get Gore on the ballot. Let me know if you'd (or anyone else) like to help and look into a handful of states - my email is nypopulist(at)yahoo(dot)com

Thanks again!


California Primary

Marchmoon, please see my other note.


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