A rapper running for President, claims of election fraud, and a looming deadline to begin printing ballots. Those are all elements in a quickly-moving legal battle to determine whether Kanye West will appear on the presidential ballot in Virginia this November.
In the latest update Wednesday, Virginia’s Attorney General Mark Herring is urging a Richmond circuit court to schedule a hearing and issue a ruling as soon as possible on the question of whether West has qualified for the November ballot.
“Localities are under extreme time pressure to print ballots in order to comply with the large number of absentee ballots requests and a deadline,” Herring wrote in his motion for an emergency hearing, adding that some localities - including Virginia Beach - are already sending their ballots to the printers.
Virginia election officials had certified rapper Kanye West to appear on the presidential ballot last week, after verifying that his campaign operation had submitted the necessary 5,000 signatures from Virginia voters.
But in addition to getting petition signatures, an independent candidate must also submit notarized oaths from electors who pledge to support the candidate in the Electoral College.
That effort was called into question Tuesday when two of those electors filed a lawsuit claiming that their support was “obtained by fraudulent means.” According to their suit, they were misled into signing the oath of support for West.
One of the plaintiffs in the case, Matthan Wilson of Suffolk, says he was approached by someone from the Kanye West campaign while riding his bike. Wilson says he signed the Elector Oath without knowing that it meant he was committing to voting for West. “Kanye West’s name was never mentioned,” Wilson said in a legal document.
The court’s decision could determine whether or not West appears on the ballot. And now Attorney General Mark Herring is asking the court to move quickly in the matter.
“The Commonwealth of Virginia… does not tolerate any type of election fraud,” writes the Attorney General in his response to the court. A hearing is now scheduled for 2:30 Thursday afternoon in Richmond.
West’s campaign is involved in numerous lawsuits across the country to try to appear on ballots, and he’s qualified in several states. Media outlets across the country have dug up ties between those legal efforts and Republican operatives.
NPR has reported that some Republicans may think West could attract Black voters away from Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
