A challenge to Kanye West’s nomination petitions as an independent presidential candidate will be heard in court Tuesday morning.
New Jersey Administrative Law Judge Gail Cookson will hear the challenge.
It is unclear whether West will participate in the hearing. West did not immediately respond to a voicemail and text message sent to her cell phone at 1:11 PM, and a connected phone number went to voicemail.
The court today rejected West’s offer to postpone the hearing until August 10.
Scott Salmon, a North Jersey electoral law attorney, is contesting the validity of the petitions filed by West on Monday, alleging that 640 of the 1,327 signatures were flawed and should be disqualified.
West needs 800 qualified voters to enter the ballot.
Salmon alleged that these signers of the Western petition are either not registered to vote or did not provide the proper addresses or, in some cases, did not properly sign the petition.
“These people are not ‘qualified voters’ who could properly sign Mr. West’s petition, and their endorsements are fatally flawed,” Salmon said in a letter questioning the petition.
Election challenges typically involve a thorough review of the deed and voter registration information for each contested signature.
“It is up to me to prove that Kanye’s request is lacking. I’m not going to tweet all of my legal arguments right now, but the bottom line of what will happen is that we will have a shared screen of the petition along with the Voter Registration System at the state level, ”said Salmon. “I have my voter / signature list that I think is lacking.”
Salmon said he will withdraw any challenge to an eligible voter to sign West’s petition.
“If everything matches, great. I don’t want people’s signatures to be returned if they are legitimate, ”he said. “If things don’t line up, the judge will make a call to exclude the voter.”
This story was updated at 1:28 PM.
