Kanye West is reportedly suing Ohio’s election chief for removing him from the presidential ballot, according to the Associated Press. Kanye’s petition to be included on November’s election ballots was rejected by the state earlier this month due to signature irregularites — a problem that has plagued Kanye’s campaign in other states, as well — but attorney’s for Kanye’s campaign argue that the election chief, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, must accept any petition for an independent candidate as long as there is no formal protest against it and it doesn’t violate Ohio law.
LaRose rejected nearly 15,000 signatures, saying information didn’t match. Kanye withdrew his New Jersey bid earlier this month as well after election law attorney Scott Salmon did raise a formal protest, saying that many of the signatures gathered there appeared to have similar handwriting or were incomplete. Meanwhile, Kanye was blocked from Wisconsin’s ballots last week, where a bipartisan panel voted 5-1 against Kanye appearing on the ballot due to late qualifying paperwork. He also missed deadlines in California, Florida, and Pennsylvania, while failing to collect enough signatures in his home state of Illinois.
Meanwhile, there are many who see the campaign as nothing more than a ploy to siphon votes from Joe Biden’s bid against incumbent Donald Trump — a view that is supported by reports of Trump associates and Republican supporters helping Kanye with his (late) attempts to appear on ballots in battleground states. If so, it may not be a very good one; Kanye is reportedly polling very poorly among Black voters.
