Americans Elect was a political organization in the United States known primarily for its efforts to stage a national online primary for the 2012 United States presidential election. Although it was successful in obtaining signatures to get on the ballot in a majority of states, the process set up by the organization did not select a candidate.

Incorporated on April 6, 2010, by Peter Ackerman and Kahlil Byrd, Americans Elect began recruiting delegates for its 2012 Presidential Primary in July 2011. Americans Elect was scheduled to host a national online primary in two phases, ending with a convention in June 2012. The resulting ticket, chosen by Americans Elect users, would have been listed on the ballot nationwide under the Americans Elect line. The organization had an open membership, which allowed any U.S. voter to draft and support his or her candidate of choice. The drafting began on February 1, 2012, and, in the first few hours, the 360,000 delegates began draft efforts for 52 possible candidates including Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Condoleezza Rice, and Buddy Roemer. Americans Elect was open to candidates from any party, as well as independents. Presidential candidates would have been required to choose a vice presidential running mate from a party different from their own to ensure a balanced ticket.

In order to obtain ballot access nationwide, some states' guidelines required Americans Elect to register as a political party. For the 2012 elections, Americans Elect succeeded in ballot access status in 29 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Any U.S. citizen thought to be constitutionally eligible was eligible to be drafted as a candidate. Americans Elect participants, referred to as delegates, could also propose and vote on the Platform of Questions, a list of questions that all candidates would have to answer before the June phase of the primary. Prior to delegate voting, the positions of various potential candidates on the Platform of Questions were inferred, using voting records and public statements compiled by OnTheIssues.org, and posted on the website.

Candidates, whether drafted or self-declared, were required to receive a minimum number of clicks of support from verified delegates to advance to the American Elect online primary ballot. Candidates who had served in any of the following positions, without having been removed from office or under current criminal indictment or conviction, needed 1,000 support clicks from each of ten states to qualify: Vice President, United States Senator, member of Congress, Presidential Cabinet member, head of a Federal agency, governor, mayor of any of the largest 100 cities in the United States, chairman or chief executive officer or president of a corporation, nonprofit corporation, or philanthropic organization with 1,000 or more employees, president of a national labor union with 100,000 or more members, military officer who has attained flag rank, ambassador, or president of an American-based university with 4,000 or more students.

All other candidates required 5,000 support clicks from each of ten states to qualify for the primary ballot.

The first phase of voting was intended to identify the six most popular certified candidates through three rounds of online balloting. The organization announced that it would hold a series of three primary ballots to narrow down its field of candidates on May 8, 15, and 22nd of 2012. The six finalists were expected to advance to the second phase of the primary, after agreeing to the Americans Elect rules and selecting a vice-presidential running mate. Americans Elect planned to choose its final candidate in June 2012 through an Internet-based convention, a process open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation. The intent was to provide a more open nominating process, resulting in better choices during the election.

However, on May 1, 2012, the first primary ballot (which had been scheduled for May 8) was cancelled, because no candidate had garnered sufficient support clicks to qualify for the ballot. Voting was then rescheduled to begin on May 15, 2012. However, with no candidate qualifying for the ballot to be held on that date, the primary was pushed off again. On May 17, the organization announced that it was ending its nomination process because no candidate had achieved the required amount of support to qualify for its primary ballot.