February 01, 2006

"Peace and Freedom Party fails to qualify for June primary election"

"The Peace and Freedom Party has failed to register enough voters to qualify for the June primary election, meaning the party cannot nominate candidates, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said Tuesday.

Party Chairman Kevin Akin said the party will either appeal to McPherson's office or file suit to overturn the decision.

McPherson said parties must have at least 77,389 registered voters to participate, which is 1 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2002 general election. A party also can qualify by having a candidate receive 2 percent of the total vote in the 2002 election and have 5,160 registered voters. The Peace and Freedom Party did not field any candidates in the 2002 election.

Akin said the number of votes the party gathers in this November's election for governor should determine whether the party gets kicked off the ballot, not the 2002 race. The party has 38 candidates gathering signatures to qualify for every statewide office, along with several congressional and legislative seats, Akin said. His wife, Margie Akin, wants to challenge McPherson."

Posted by Randy Riddle at February 1, 2006 08:31 AM