Well, if you are not paying attention when you register or re-register to vote, you might be in the embarrassing position of aligning yourself with George Wallace. Yes, we are talking about the former Governor of Alabama who ran for President in 1968.
Despite online information about political parties, what they stand for, along with numerous news articles, people are still registering to vote with the American Independent Party in California. People mistakenly think they are just registering as “independent”. What they are actually doing is registering to belong to a far-right wing political party.
In 2016, a study by the Los Angeles Times showed that 50-75% of those registered with the AIP did not realize they had registered with an actual party. They believed they were unaffiliated and “independent”. According to the Times, they were simply confused by the word “independent”. Celebrities registered as AIP who were mentioned in the Times’ story included Demi Moore and Emma Stone.
The American Independent Party has nothing to do with being an American or being independent, and more about discrimination and guns (Calpeek reserves the right to call a duck, a duck).
According to the Library of Congress: “The American Independent Party (AIP) is a far right political party of the United States that was established in 1967… The AIP is best known for its nomination of former Governor George Wallace of Alabama, who carried five states in the 1968 presidential election running on a segregationist platform against Richard M. Nixon and Hubert H. Humphrey.”
Despite attempts to explain to voters what the AIP is, their numbers are increasing. From October 2020 to March 2022, the number of voters registered with the AIP increased by 95,751.
Today’s AIP claims to no longer hang onto their segregationist roots, yet they are still rather nutty. In 2020, the AIP picked Kayne West to be the U.S. Vice Presidential nominee.
Calpeek urges everyone to remember: friends don’t let friends register AIP.