Kanye West qualifies to appear on Tennessee ballot
Kanye West, the rapper running for president, will be on Tennessee’s November ballot as an independent candidate.
West’s campaign on Thursday submitted its signature petition to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office, which has since reviewed it to verify that at least 275 signatures were of registered Tennessee voters. Mark Goins, Tennessee’s coordinator of elections, confirmed Tuesday that West has qualified.
The office had counties stop verifying signatures after 332 were confirmed to be valid. Signature verification is an issue that has disqualified West from the ballot in some other states. Tennessee, which marks the eighth state where West has qualified to run for president, requires far fewer petition signatures than most other places.
West’s Tennessee operation has brought together an apparent bipartisan group of operatives.
The petition was brought in to the
Secretary of State’s office on Thursday by Sir Isaac Ford, son of former longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr., and brother of U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr, another Memphis Democrat.
In addition to Ford, among West’s Tennessee electors is Nashville conservative activist Rick Williams, a supporter of President Donald Trump.
West’s campaign has faced scrutiny for its ties to Republican operatives. In several other states, Republican activists and Trump-affiliated operatives have signed up as electors and added their signatures to qualifying petitions in an effort to help put West on the November ballot as an independent.
Besides West, so far three other independent candidates have qualified to appear on Tennessee’s Nov. 3 candidate: Roque “Rocky De La Fuente, Jo Jorgensen and Alyson Kennedy. Other candidates are still pending approval.
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5.
Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.