Kanye West was recently removed from the state ballot in his native Illinois following a state review that deemed over 1,900 of his petition’s 3,120 signatures to have been illegitimate. West is now facing challenges to his Wisconsin nomination, after several complaints claiming that his campaign allegedly submitted bogus signatures such as Mickey Mouse and Bernie Sanders at Milwaukee addresses and allegedly tricked at least six individuals into signing his campaign paperwork without their full knowledge.
The artist’s campaign has filed a lawsuit in response to the complaints, which were filed by Wisconsin Democrats last Friday. The suit alleges that the state’s Democratic Party alongside other interest groups were behind the complaints against West’s campaign.
One of the main points of contention from the West campaign is regarding the time period when his attorney, Lane Ruhland, dropped off the signatures at the state’s Election’s Committee office. The complaint against West alleges that she arrive after 5 p.m., however the lawsuit filed alleges that Ruhland at 5:00:14 p.m., thus not later than 5 p.m.
“For the average observer, arriving before 5:01 p.m. is arriving ‘not later’ than 5 p.m. The phrase ‘not later’ is particularly instructive in that it indicates the presumption that the seconds from 5:00:00 to 5:00:59 are inclusive to 5 p.m. As the statute states ‘5 p.m.’ for something to be filed later than ‘5 p.m.’ it would have to be filed at 5:01 p.m.”
It also goes on to allege that the office was locked and closed, causing Ruhland to call the Commission to open the door, which allegedly cost the filers at least 45 seconds.” It goes further adding “once the Campaign staff
were able to gain entry, they were immediately delayed by an overly aggressive media as well as a Democratic operative.”
In a video released on August 4, Ruhland is shown walking into the Election’s Commission, and answers no comment to a reporter asking about the signatures the campaign received. Ruhland is shown opening the first door, but the video cuts off prior to her entry into the building, with the reporter who shared the clip stating “They called before 5p to alert election officials. (Building is locked and shut down because of COVID. Someone had to come let them in).”
Rutland currently represents the Trump campaign in one of the lawsuits filed in federal court. She is one of three officials that have worked with that campaign in the past. West recently stated in a text interview that he does not mind taking votes from Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the upcoming election, however an early poll showed West taking away a few votes from Trump.
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