criminal-law constitutional-law politics
Is There a Deadline for Forming Political Parties before a US Presidential Election?
<p>Can I legally, with respect to the FEC, form a political party such as Kanye's &quot;Birthday Party&quot; just before a national election as he has?  This article suggests not:</p>
<p>&quot;... you can only register a political party at certain times of the year. For instance, you may not be able to register a new political party shortly before an election.&quot;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.unstrippedvoice.com/4286-you-can-create-a-new-political-party-heres-how-to-do-it/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.unstrippedvoice.com/4286-you-can-create-a-new-political-party-heres-how-to-do-it/</a></p>
<p>The FEC website does not state a specific deadline:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/registering-political-party/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/registering-political-party/</a></p>

<p>You can form a political party any time you want and never tell the FEC. This is in part because under the law creating the FEC, &quot;political party&quot; has a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/52/30101#16" rel="nofollow noreferrer">specialized meaning</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The term “political party” means an association, committee, or
organization which nominates a candidate for election to any Federal
office whose name appears on the election ballot as the candidate of
such association, committee, or organization.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given that, the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/52/30101#6" rel="nofollow noreferrer">authorized (campaign) committee</a> has to file a statement of organization within 10 days of designation under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/52/30102#e_1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 30102(e)(1)</a>, and that has to be done within 15 days of the candidate becoming a candidate. The relevant regulations (<a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=d1d591c8f672fc3aab343ad502201b78&amp;mc=true&amp;node=pt11.1.102&amp;rgn=div5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">11 CFR Part 102</a>) do not suggest that there is any restriction on when this can be done.</p>
<p>The only thing that I can suggest is that they were thinking of state-level restrictions on getting your name on the ballot.</p>
