Kanye West’s hopes of getting to the polls in Wisconsin were dashed late on Thursday when the state election board ruled that his application was submitted too late, a big blow to the music superstar’s presidential bid, which is supported by Republicans across the country.
The commission agreed to a 5-1 vote to reject West’s request to run for president as an independent candidate, as his petition was signed shortly after the deadline. the state 5 p.m.
West faced multiple challenges for his vote petition that included questions about the truth of his signatures such as the charge he missed the state deadline.
West will almost certainly not be on enough ballots to win the 270 election votes needed to win the presidency, and would not have been even if he got a ballot in Wisconsin.
But the decision ends West’s attempt to gain access to the ballot box in a major battlefield state that President Donald Trump won in 2016 with less than 23,000 votes.
The challenge depends on a long, esoteric discussion about what time representatives of West’s campaign entered the building to submit, and whether the state’s deadline of “no later than 5pm” is actually the first minute of 5pm include
In the end, all but one member of the committee was convinced that West’s petitions had been submitted too late, and the committee voted more than two-and-a-half hours into its meeting to end West’s attempt to vote. reitsjen.
It was not immediately clear whether West would appeal the decision.
West also lost his bid to cast the ballot in Montana on Thursday when the Montana Secretary of State threw enough of his petition signatures that he failed to meet the requirements there.
Wisconsin was just one of the states where West’s long shot bid received a boost from GOP-affiliated operatives.
Lane Ruhland, a veteran election lawyer who has advised the state Republican Party and is representing the Trump campaign in a lawsuit against an NBC affiliate, provided West’s petition signatures, Vice first reported. And two of Wisconsin’s presidential candidates in the West West donated to Trump’s re-election in June of this year.
There were other Republicans associated with West’s ballot access efforts in states such as Colorado, Missouri and Arkansas.
West himself is a registered Republican voter in Wyoming who has praised Trump several times, most notably during a visit to the Oval Office in 2018 when he wore a Trump signature “Make America Great Again” hat. And Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, confirmed that he recently met with West in Colorado.
All of those ties between the West campaign and Republicans have erupted from some Democrats questioning whether Republicans are trying to capitalize on West’s candidacy to try to get votes away from Biden.
“It simply came to our notice then. We can continue to focus on getting rid of President Trump and choosing the Biden-Harris ticket, ‘said Angela Lang, a Democratic organizer in Wisconsin who is also the executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities.
Lang pointed to questions about whether Republicans are encouraging West to siphon the Black voters from Biden after Black turnout in the 2016 election over key states declined. Trump tweeted in July that it “should not be difficult” for West to do so, and West’s recent criticism of Biden over racial issues has been lines of attack by the Trump campaign.
“It’s insulting to think that our political analysis as Black people is that we will see and choose a Black rapper with high name recognition,” Lang said. “We want to feel heard.”
“Many people, myself included, are not against third-party candidates. It is healthy for our democracy. If he came up with legitimate plans and genuine criticism of the current president, people might be more inclined to listen. But people look here right away. ”
