Reports: Kanye West tossed off the ballot in Illinois, did not meet minimum threshold

August 10, 2020 17

SPRINGFIELD — It appears rapper and entrepreneur Kanye West will not be on the ballot in Illinois this year, according to reports.

TMZ published a report Friday stating West’s campaign may have gotten another death blow: election officials at the Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBoE) have found that more than half his petition signatures are invalid.

Following up on the objections

Seven parties — Antoinette Smith, Alvin Boutte, Jr. and a five-person panel led by Charles Morris — filed objections to West’s petitions. According to a source at ISBoE, petitioners were able to turn in 3,128 signatures to attempt to get on the ballot in his home state. The objections would result in a review by the election board.

According to the same report, 1,928 signatures (or roughly 62%) were determined as invalid. Moreover, this would determine that West only submitted 1,200 valid signatures. Unfortunately, according to threshold revisions set forth by Libertarian Party of Illinois v. Pritzker, this means he falls 1,300 short.

While the issues are not revealed, it could be due to fake names and addresses, unregistered voters, or an illegible signature.

West’s other ballot access petitioning failures

Furthermore, a MXDWN.com article reveals that West was unable to meet the minimum provisional threshold of 10,000 signatures. Additionally, he would remove himself from consideration in New Jersey for similar reasons.

The Chicago-born rapper made statements to Forbes that his campaign was less about winning. Moreover, it was more about pulling votes away from presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden. West’s campaign has support from billionaire Elon Musk, Chance the Rapper and the Kardashian family.

West’s running mate is Michelle Tidball, a preacher from Wyoming, despite the report stating that it would have been Jay-Z.

However, the report references that Musk made a suggestion to West to delay the campaign until 2024 as to not split the Democratic vote.

West’s official removal set for August 21

ISBoE certifies who will be on the ballot on August 21. This should likely be when West will officially be off the ballot. Their website has yet to overrule or sustain the objections in the objection cases.

West made the campaign announcement on Independence Day and has been stirring up much controversy since then.

For more Illinois political news, follow Jake Leonard @JakeLeonardWPMD and Heartland Newsfeed @HLNF_Bulletin on Twitter.

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Jake Leonard

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.