Rapper Kanye West wants Tennessee officials to place him on the ballot for the 2020 presidential election.
An unidentified person representing West arrived at the Tennessee Division of Elections office Friday. That person picked up a petition that would allow West to run in the Volunteer State, said Tennessee Secretary of State spokeswoman Julia Bruck.
“A candidate must obtain the signatures and addresses of at least two hundred seventy-five (275) voters registered anywhere within the State of Tennessee,” Bruck told The Tennessee Star in an email Friday.
“The qualifying deadline for filing the petition as Independent Candidate for President is 12:00 noon on August 20, 2020.”
Bruck did not say who else, if anybody, has asked that office for the same petition.
As reported this month, West officially filed to appear on Ohio ballots for the 2020 presidential election. West announced he would run for the presidency on July 4. West also filed to appear on ballots in Wisconsin and Colorado. West has already filed in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vermont, and West Virginia.
In his Ohio filing, West listed Michelle Tidball as his vice presidential candidate. Tidball is a self-proclaimed “life and spiritual coach” who owns and operates Yarash, a Christian life coaching ministry designed for “service to others who desire to be free from life’s entanglements and walk upon the earth with full understanding of who we [sic] are.”
Tidball previously worked with Bright Futures Mentoring as an executive director.
West and Tidball will run as independent candidates. In July, West filed with the Federal Election Commission under the “BDY,” or Birthday Party.
The first mention of the Birthday Party came from West’s July 8 interview with Forbes, where the rapper declared that “when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.”
While West’s platform consists of some unorthodox political beliefs, such as basing the framework of his administration upon the country of Wakanda from Marvel Comics, the star has stated support for more traditional policies. Some of these include stimulus payments to citizens and tax breaks for businesses.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kanye West” by David Shankbone. CC BY 3.0.
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He needs to be on the ballot in the battleground states, not here in Tennessee, thank you.