Last week, the Internet was buzzing with reports that Kanye West’s presidential bid had received impetus from Republicans – and Trump allies. This week, it sounds like scrambling to get the megalomaniacs up for grabs in a number of states may have been a fruitless endeavor. New Jersey and Illinois both have the name of West of the Run, and it looks like Wisconsin may be the next, as many of the signatures that the star’s campaign submitted to him on the ballot to get, is false. Well, some political experts say Kanye may have committed election fraud.
The Illinois Electoral Board has reconsidered the validity of the signatures on West’s petition after three different whistleblowers asked the state to take a closer look at the end of July. On Friday, August 7, the state election board announced that 60% of them were invalid – that is 1,928 of the 3,218 signatures submitted by West. He needed 2,500 valid names to enter the race. Ed Mullen, one of the attorneys challenging West’s nominating petitions, told the Chicago Tribune that the announcement means that the star is “virtually certain of the mood.”
This is not the first time signatures on West’s petitions have been considered suspicious. In New Jersey, where he needed 800 names to get to the polls, an election lawyer reported hundreds of false signatures. Of the 1,327 submissions West, Scott Salmon identified at least 640 names of people who were not registered to vote, did not live at their stated address, or provided incomplete information. He also found multiple signatures with seemingly identical handwriting. West’s campaign bowed the race in New Jersey last week for a hearing that ruled on the validity of its petition.
The same day, the Illinois Electoral Board announced its findings, Democrats in Wisconsin filed their own complaint against West, citing lateness in submitting his petition and pointing to false signatures with names like “Mickey Mouse” and “Bernie Sanders.” According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the complaint also includes confirmations from citizens who say they were involved in signing West’s petition to get to the vote.
Cheryl Pernell said she was approached in a Walmart parking lot in Milwaukee by a woman who asked if she was registered to vote. When Pernell said yes, the woman asked her to put her name down so she knew she was already registered. Pernell released her information as requested, but said she could not see the top of the form she signed.
“Then, yesterday, August 6th, I received a call telling me what I had actually signed papers to get Kanye West on the ballot,” Pernell wrote in her confirmation. ‘If I had known, I would not have signed the papers, absolutely not. Kanye West would not get my vote and I think it’s a joke he’s running for president. ”
All of these allegations of suspicious tactics used to get West on the ballot could constitute election fraud, according to political experts. “If the allegations are true … crimes were committed by the Western campaign,” attorney Michael Maistelman, who collects the allegations for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Political analyst April Ryan reflected his claim. “Two states declaring #KanyeWest unfit to be on #POTUS vote due to erroneous signatures could open him up for an #ElectionFraud poll,” she said. tweeted on Saturday.
A month ago, West polled at a meager 2% and potentially drew a percentage point from Trump when the rapper’s name was added to the mix, according to a Redfield & Wilton Strategies interview. That throws some ice water on the theory that the candidacy of West voters would be rejected by the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The suspected petitions make it even less likely to see the star end up at the end of November on most polls. (Knocking on wood.) That said, it’s time to call Kanye’s campaign what it really is: a dark, twisted distraction.
