The West wing
Kanye in legal row after missing Wisconsin presidential election filing deadline by 14 seconds
Kanye West is taking legal action to ensure he is a candidate for president in Wisconsin after officials ruled he missed the filing deadline by seconds.
The rapper has been running an unconventional campaign for the presidency, with Democrat politicians accusing the star of running as a “spoiler candidate” to help President Trump beat their presumptive candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden. According to the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel, in the swing state of Wisconsin, West missed the 5 p.m. filing deadline on Aug. 4, by 14 seconds, and on Monday filed a legal complaint claiming that state law “does not distinguish between minutes and seconds” and so he should be on the ballot.
“For the average observer, arriving before 5:01 p.m. is arriving ‘not later’ than 5 p.m.,” his election lawyer Michael Curran wrote in the filing. “The phrase ‘not later’ is particularly instructive in that it indicates the presumption that the seconds from 5:00:00 to 5:00:59 are inclusive to
5 p.m. As the statute states ‘5 p.m.,’ for something to be filed later than ‘5 p.m.’ it would have to be filed at 5:01 p.m.”
Curran also argued that West’s team was delayed in their filing by state election officials, who allegedly locked their agency’s door, “overly aggressive” members of the media, and a Democratic operative.
The filing was made in response to two challenges to the Gold Digger hitmaker’s nomination papers, after he submitted 2,400 signatures, putting him above the
threshold of 2,000 needed to get on the ballot. Complaints filed state that he should not appear on Wisconsin’s presidential ballot because his submission was late, and that they include incorrect addresses and phoney signatures, including “Mickey Mouse” and (Democrat politician) “Bernie Sanders”.
Six individuals have also filed an affidavit alleging they were duped into putting their names on the musician’s nomination papers.
The complaints and West’s filing will be reviewed by Wisconsin Elections Commission staffers, who will make a recommendation to the state’s bipartisan elections board on whether he should be on the presidential ballot in November.