Arizona Americans Elect Party Leaders Travel to New York for Convention of State Americans Elect Parties

NEW YORK, May 31 --

The leaders of the Arizona Americans Elect Party, the state's fastest-growing ballot-qualified party, today traveled to New York City for the first Convention of State Americans Elect Parties, meeting their counterparts in the eleven other states where the Americans Elect Party will be on the ballot in 2014: California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Speakers at the gathering will include Peter Ackerman, chairman of the Americans Elect Corporation, a nonprofit corporate entity, and chairman of Rockport Capital Inc.; outgoing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent; the best-selling authors and activists Sister Souljah and Tao Lin; and officials and directors of the D.C.-based Americans Elect Corporation, including Kahlil Byrd, Chief Executive Officer; Elliot L. Ackerman, Chief Operating Officer; Joshua S. Levine, Chief Technology Officer; and Sarah Malm, Chief Communications Officer.

Issues to be discussed are the relationships between the state Americans Elect political parties, such as the one in Arizona, which ran two candidates for Congress in 2012 and which is running candidates for other federal and state political offices in 2014, and the national Americans Elect Corporation; state and national leadership of any coalition of state Americans Elect political parties; and federal and state campaign rules and funding.

The Arizona Americans Elect Party delegation consists of party leader Trey Young; treasurer Irina Tereshkova; first vice-chairwoman Buffy Lehman Auchincloss; artistic director Richard Grayson; Maricopa County co-chair Jaden Parascandola; and Pima County co-chair Elana de Carvajal.

"We're quite excited to meet people from the national Americans Elect movement and those in other states like California and New Mexico where individuals and groups also hope to be running Americans Elect candidates for public office next year," said Dr. Tereshkova.

The Convention of State Americans Elect Parties takes place today, May 31, and this weekend, June 1 and 2, at the Hotel Gansevoort in Manhattan's Meatpacking District.