Kanye West pushing to be on the presidential ballot in SC — what it will take
Rap star Kanye West is coming for South Carolina voters, asking them to sign a petition to get him on the presidential ballot in the Palmetto State this November.
In a late Friday tweet sent to his nearly 30 million followers, West shared a link to the petition asking voters in the state to sign. Online advertisements for the petition also appeared on thestate.com.
On Saturday, West sent out another tweet, listing eight locations in the Charleston area where his team will be collecting signatures via drive-through on Saturday and Sunday.
So what does West have to do to get on the ballot in South Carolina?
He doesn’t have much time — he needs to file 10,000 valid signatures of registered voters in the state with the South Carolina Electoral Commission by noon on Monday, July 20. In a typical election year, the deadline is July 15, but under the state of emergency declared by Gov. Henry McMaster due to the coronavirus pandemic, candidates get five extra days.
The South Carolina Electoral Commission accepts “digitized” signatures from registered voters in the state — signatures created using a stylus or finger that is human readable. It does not accept “digital” signatures that use “a unique ‘hash,’ ‘code’ or ‘digital fingerprint’ created using a mathematical algorithm for which the signer has a ‘key,’” according to the scvotes.gov website.
The petition that West tweeted out Friday links to a DocuSign form, one of the S.C. Electoral Commission’s accepted forms of “digitized” signatures.
It’s all part of what has already become a high-profile, chaotic bid by the mercurial musician for the White House. After supporting President Donald Trump and making a visit to the Oval Office in 2018, West announced in a July 4 tweet he would mount his own campaign for president in 2020, after previously saying he would wait until 2024.
In a subsequent four-hour interview with Forbes, West renounced his support of Trump, attacked Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden, revealed he had been diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier in the year and announced some of his political positions, including anti-abortion and anti-vaccine stances.
Amid debate over whether West’s late entry into the race just a few months before Election Day would siphon votes away from Biden, one of his campaign team members told New York Magazine he was dropping out. The deadline had already passed to file as an independent candidate in several states.
Just a few days later, however, West qualified to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot after filing the necessary paperwork and paying the required $35,000 fee. He, or someone in his name, has also filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, including a statement of candidacy.
This story was originally published July 18, 2020 at 2:36 PM.
