Wisconsin is a swinging state critical of President Donald Trump’s reelection fight and a place where he defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 by less than 30,000 votes. Some political observers saw West as a potential spoiler that could attract Joe Biden’s Black voters in November, but a recent POLITICO / Morning Consult poll found that West generally received 2 percent support among registered voters and Black voters. . So far, West has qualified to be on the ballot in Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah, and Vermont.
One Wisconsin election commissioner said it was ironic that Democrats had “spent billions of dollars” to make it easier for constituencies to vote, but were not interested in making it easier for candidates to submit.
West, who only recently supported his support for Trump – a president who is deeply unpopular with Black voters – as an independent candidate on the birthday of the Birthday Party and has drawn criticism for collaborating with Trump operatives. His attorney for elections in Wisconsin, Lane Ruhland, is a former attorney general for the state Republican Party who also represented the Trump re-election campaign. Ruhland had West’s signatures in hand as she rode to the election commission’s offices, arriving after 5 pm a few seconds in the building and many seconds more in the election offices.
On Friday, West faces another uphill battle: his home state of Illinois.
Gathering – and challenging – the signatures needed to get the vote in the Land of Lincoln is traditional election season war, unlike almost anywhere else in the nation, and West’s team seems unprepared. West’s petitions will come under scrutiny for submitting 1,200 valid signatures, far from the 2,500 needed to get to the polls in Illinois.
Its representatives are planning to defend the validity of the collected signatures.
West has said he will rely on entries to make him competitive in states where his name is not on the ballot.
