This December, the California Secretary of State announced the certification of a new political party, the first since 1995. With the qualification of the Americans Elect Party there will be seven parties appearing on California's ballots in 2012. Parties qualify by either registering 103,044 voters specifying that party preference (one percent of the total votes cast in the November 2, 2010 election), or by collecting signatures of 1,030,040 registered voters (ten percent of the total votes cast in the November 2, 2010 election). For more informatin about the party qualification process and background about other qualified parties, please see the full text of the Secretry of State's press release. The Americans Elect Party will be holding an online convention to select a presidential nominee instead of participating in the June 5, 2012 Presidential Primary in California.