Kanye West Fails To Make Ballot In His Home State Illinois

Kanye West

Kanye West Fails To Make Ballot In His Home State Illinois

Kanye West won’t be on the ballot in his home state of Illinois after he failed to get enough valid signatures for his status as an independent candidate.

The Illinois State Board of Elections unanimously decided to keep him off the ballot on Friday (Aug. 21) after he didn’t get the required 2,500 legitimate signatures from registered voters.

A spokesman for the Board of Elections, Matt Dietrich, said he got less than half of the signatures with 1,200.

Kanye West is said to have dished out roughly $30,000 in hopes of making his way to the ballot. But when he issued his petition last month, many of the signatures were challenged.

He had a similar issue in Ohio as the Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, said:

“A signature is the most basic form of authentication and an important, time-honored, security measure to ensure that a candidate aspires to be on the ballot and that a voter is being asked to sign a legitimate petition. There is no doubt that the West nominating petition and declaration of candidacy failed to meet the necessary threshold for certification.”

He also failed the meet the deadline to file his paperwork for Wisconsin earlier this week, disqualifying him from being on the ballot in that state as well.

The Elections Commission in that midwestern state voted 5-1 against having his name appear as a presidential candidate. The deadline to submit his nomination papers was Aug. 4 at 5 p.m. It’s not clear what time he actually filed, but the Elections Commission disagreed with Kanye West’s lawyer that he had until 5:01 p.m.

A lawyer for Wisconsin’s Democratic Party, Jeffrey Mandell, said state law requires nomination papers to be filed “not later” than 5 p.m., so Kanye West’s documents “cannot be allowed.”

Despite his setbacks, Kanye took to Twitter to celebrate the states where he will appear on the ballot.

What do you think of Kanye not making it on the ballot in his home state? Let us know in the comments.