Kanye West Will Not Appear On The Presidential Ballot In Wisconsin
Kanye West will not be able to appear on the impending presidential ballot in Wisconsin because state election officials have announced that his attorneys didn't submit the required petition in time. The 43-year-old rapper's attempt to get on the Wisconsin ballot was objected because his documents were filed a couple of minutes after the deadline, which was 5 p.m., Aug. 5.
“When you’re late, you're late,” Commissioner Julie Glancey pointed out during an extended hearing at which the panel voted 5-1 against the famous record producer. Glancey said they have rejected people's ballot even if it is missing one signature, adding that if they are strictly considering the number of signatures, they also need to be strict about the time they file their documents.
Wisconsin is a key state that played a vital role in Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 by less than 30,000 votes. The state will be playing an equally important role during the upcoming election, which is why some political observers touted West as a potential spoiler who could steal Black voters from Joe Biden.
Contrary to political observers' predictions, a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows that Kanye got only 2 percent support overall among registered voters as well as Black voters. West is qualified to be on the ballot in several states including Vermont, Utah, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Arkansas at the moment.
One election commissioner in Wisconsin pointed out the irony involving Democrats who shelled out billions of dollars to facilitate voting for constituents but neglected to enable candidates to file without breaking much of a sweat. After announcing that he no longer supports Trump, West decided to run as an independent candidate on the Birthday Party line and has been slammed for collaborating with Trump operatives.
West's Wisconsin election lawyer, and former general counsel for the state Republican Party Lane Ruhland had also represented the Trump reelection campaign. Ruhland had the rapper's signature in hand when she went to the Election Commission offices, but was a few seconds late to arrive in the building and several seconds late in the election offices.
West is slated to face another uphill battle in his state of Illinois on Friday. It looks like his team was unprepared, and West's petition is also likely to come under scrutiny for having only 1,200 valid signatures, which is considerably short of the 2,500 signatures needed to get on the ballot in Illinois.
West's representatives will be defending the validity of the collected signatures. The rapper has said he will cash in on write-ins to stand a chance in states where his name is not printed on the ballot.