Yesterday’s announcement made by Steve Kramer, a “get out the vote” specialist allegedly hired by Kanye West to get him on the ballots in Florida and North Carolina, appears to have been premature, according to a new FEC filing by the hip hop artist. While Kramer claimed yesterday that the artist was “out” of the race, the Oklahoma state election board officially declared today that West was on the state’s ballot as a presidential candidate.
Independent presidential candidate Kanye West has qualified for the General Election ballot in Oklahoma. (Today is Oklahoma’s deadline for Independent & Unrecognized Party presidential candidates to file statements of candidacy with their petitions or filing fee.)
— Oklahoma State Election Board (@OKelections) July 15, 2020
According to TMZ, West filed the FEC Form 1, Statement of Organization today, declaring that the Kanye 2020 committee will serve as the Principal Campaign Committee, with the artist as its candidate. The party is listed as BDY, which might stand for Birthday Party, a name West announced during his recent interview with Forbes.
TMZ also reports that West has yet to fill out Form 2, Statement of Candidacy however, which requires that West show that he spent more than $5,000 in campaign activity and declares candidacy status under federal campaign finance law.
Despite barely declaring his candidacy a mere 11 days ago, the rapper is already polling at 2 percent, according to the latest polls publicized earlier this week. These polls showed that he may have had a negative impact on Trump’s polling numbers, as they dipped by a single percent once West was added to the polls.
Reactions from the hip hop world regarding his candidacy have been mixed, with Will.I.Am voicing his condemnation of his decision to run, while Chance The Rapper hinted at trusting West more than Democratic nominee Joe Biden.