Kanye West Will Appear on Oklahoma Presidential Election Ballot Amid Uncertainty
Rapper Kanye West has qualified to be in the Oklahoma election ballot, but it is still unclear as of Wednesday if he was still in the race, with reports saying he was ending his short-lived campaign.
According to an Associated Press report, a representative of West filed the paperwork and paid the $35,000 fee Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday was the deadline for a spot on Oklahoma's Nov. 3 presidential election ballot, said the state's Board of Elections spokeswoman Misha Mohr.
Two other independent candidates paid the filing fee before the deadline, Mohr added. West will share the election ballot with concert pianist Jade Simmons and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce.
Given his late entry into the race, West already missed the deadlines to appear on the ballots of half a dozen states.
The news on the filing came shortly after Steve Kramer said West was dropping from the 2020 race. Kramer is an adviser who said he was hired to help get West's name on ballots by getting signatures in key states, reported The Hill.
"He's out."
New York Magazine's The Intelligencer talked to Kramer about West's campaign when, as they followed up on the signature-gathering, Kramer said, "He's out."
Kramer said he let the publication know once they "get all our stuff canceled."
An hour after that exchange, West posted a video on Twitter that showed him registering to vote for the first time at the county's clerk office in Cody, Wyoming.
'Kanye 2020' Committee filed under FEC
On Thursday morning, West filed a Federal Election Commission Form 2 Statement of Candidacy. The form is submitted if someone raised or spent over $5,000 in campaign activity, giving them candidacy status under the federal campaign finance law, reported Rolling Stone.
A rep of West refused to comment. But FEC said that the Kanye 2020 committee filed their Form 1 on Wednesday. The commission added that they could not confirm if the filing was legitimate and said to reach out to the treasurer listed in the filing.
The Form 1 is known as the Statement of Organization. It declares the Kanye 2020 as the "Principal Campaign Committee" for West.
The party is listed as BDY. West said this stands for the Birthday Party, TMZ reported.
This is a proper first step towards his White House bid.
The Campaign Trail, So Far
West, married to reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, announced his election run on July 4.
"I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION," he tweeted.
West said he would run as an anti-abortion and anti-vaccine candidate. He said this is due to his religious beliefs.
West said he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
West said he has never voted in elections in his life. But, if he becomes president, he said he plans to run the White House like Wakanda's secret fictional country in "Black Panther."
After the rapper announced that he would run for president, he had 2% of the votes in an election poll done by Redfield & Wilton Strategies.
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