Kanye West has been removed from his home state of Illinois’ presidential ballot following a state review. According to TMZ, the Illinois State Board of Election deemed 1,900 of his petition’s 3,120 signatures to have been illegitimate. The state required 2,500 signatures in order for a candidate to be put on the presidential ballot.
The legitimacy to West’s campaign in Illinois had been brought into question several weeks ago, with the Illinois State Board of Election questioning the legitimacy of the majority of West’s petition signatures. West had also been unable to be included on the ballot for South Carolina after he failed to submit the 10,000 petition signatures which had been necessary. The rapper still held a rally in South Carolina, and made claims that Harriet Tubman had not freed any slaves before making a pro-life stance.
Earlier this week, the Chicago-born rapper did not deny to Forbes that his campaign is less about winning the election, and more about pulling votes away from Democratic nominee Joe Biden. West had been a vocal supporter for Trump throughout 2018, however during an interview with Forbes shortly after his presidential campaign announcement, West had said he’s “taking the red hat off, with this interview.”
West’s campaign has support from the Kardashian family as well as billionaire Elon Musk, while Chance the Rapper has stated he has more trust for West than the other candidates. West had proposed Musk would be the head of West’s space program. He had also stated his running mate to be Michelle Tidball, a preacher from Wyoming, before changing to stating it would be rapper Jay-Z. Musk suggested last week that West should consider delaying his campaign until 2024 so as not to split the Democratic vote. West had announced his campaign on July 4, and has stirred up much controversy since the announcement.
West has publicly suffered from bipolar disorder for several years, and made a series of Tweets in the midst of his campaign trail about his wife, Kim Kardashian, putting him in an involuntary 51-50 hold. Kardashian then made a statement on Instagram discussing West’s struggles with mental health and public misconceptions about mental illness.