Kanye 2020 ends bid to be on N.J. ballot

TRENTON, N.J. — Kanye West withdrew his petition to appear as a presidential candidate on New Jersey’s ballot, according to an email chain between a judge and what appears to be the rapper’s campaign email address.

In email correspondence, an unidentified person writing from a Kanye 2020 address told Administrative Law Judge Gail Cookson that West is dropping his effort to appear on New Jersey’s ballot.

“At this time, Kanye 2020 has no further option than to regrettably withdraw from New Jersey and cease further efforts to place Mr. West’s name on the New Jersey ballot,” the Kanye 2020 email late Monday reads.

Cookson replied Tuesday, accepting the withdrawal.

Election law attorney Scott Salmon had objected to West’s petition, arguing that it failed to pass legal muster because signatures were incomplete and in some cases appeared written in very similar handwriting.

Salmon, who is a registered Democrat but brought the complaint on his own behalf, reacted positively to the news that West had withdrawn.

“I am glad that the Kanye campaign has realized that their petition was so deficient that it wasn’t even worth defending,” Salmon said in a phone interview. “It sort of highlights the fact that it shouldn’t have been submitted in the first place.”

The New Jersey petition sahowed a number of signatures looked nearly identical, including lower-case i’s dotted with a small circle. Some signatures lacked complete addresses. On the petition, West listed his residence as Cody, Wyoming, which is near where he bought two ranches last year.

New Jersey is a reliably Democratic state in presidential elections, siding with the Democrat since 1988.

The status of West’s presidential campaign, and whether he is truly seeking the White House remains unclear.