Which Presidential candidates can I legally vote for in the general election?
<p>I live in California and wish to vote third-party this election season. However, from the research I've done, it looks like I may be unable to vote for my candidate of choice. Really, I have two questions:</p>

<p>1) Whose names will be listed on the Presidential ballot, or - in other words - how does the state decide whose names to place on the ballot?</p>

<p>2) Can I cast a write-in vote for a candidate not listed on the ballot?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/upcoming-elections/general-election-november-8-2016/key-dates-and-deadlines-nov-8-2016/" rel="nofollow">Here</a> are the list of deadlines for California's preparation of ballots. The list of names that will appear on the ballot will be released on September 1.</p>

<p><a href="http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//statewide-elections/2016-primary/section-3-candidate-filing-information.pdf" rel="nofollow">The Election Guide</a> (<a href="http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/statewide-elections/2012-general/write-in-presidential-elector-nov2012.pdf" rel="nofollow">an alternative description from 2012</a>) describes how write-in candidates work. A person can declare themselves as a write-in candidate if they have 55 electors that are pledged to cast their Electoral College votes for that person. The deadline for this declaration is October 25. The certified list is released on October 28. You could write in the name of one of these certified write-in candidates.</p>

<p>As an example, <a href="http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/statewide-elections/2012-general/certified-list-candidates.pdf" rel="nofollow">this is the certified list of ballot candidates from 2012</a> and <a href="http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/statewide-elections/2012-general/list-pres-write-in-electors.pdf" rel="nofollow">this is the certified list of write-in candidates from 2012</a>.</p>

<p>Adding to Dawn's answer, there is more information about running for office <a href="http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/presidential-primary-election-june-7-2016/qualifications-running-office/" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</p>

<p>The names that will appear on the ballot will be:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>The nominees of the Democratic, Republican, American Independent, Green, Libertarian, and Peace and Freedom parties, and</p></li>
<li><p>Anyone who has qualified as an <a href="http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//statewide-elections/2016-primary/president-elector-independent-2016.pdf" rel="nofollow">independent candidate</a>.  The main requirement is to have gathered the signatures of 178,039 registered voters before August 12.  They also had to get 55 people to file papers pledging themselves to that candidate as electors; these would be the people sent to the Electoral College if the candidate wins the majority of the vote in California.  (55 is the number of electoral votes allocated to California.)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>As Dawn says, a person can qualify as a write-in candidate by, as above, getting 55 people to pledge as electors, by October 25.  Details are <a href="http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//statewide-elections/2016-primary/president-elector-write-in-2016.pdf" rel="nofollow">here</a>.  You can write in the name of any such candidate.  If you write in any other name, your vote will not be counted.</p>

<p>(As an aside, the documents I linked above contain the helpful information that "The term of office for United States President is four years, beginning January 20,
2017."  Just in case the candidate wasn't aware, I guess.)</p>

california