Politics

Rapper Kanye West qualifies for Oklahoma presidential ballot

Los Angeles, US, Jul 16 (efe-epa).- Rapper Kanye West has registered with the United States’ Federal Election Commission and on Thursday qualified to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot.

Oklahoma is the first state in which West met the requirements before the filing deadline on Wednesday after submitting the necessary paperwork and paying the required $35,000.

“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 confirmed Thursday on Twitter.

West also submitted a “Statement of Organization” to the Federal Election Commission, according to TMZ.

The document is used to register a candidate’s authorized campaign committee and allows it to raise and spend money on electoral work.

The party to which the rapper is affiliated is called BDY – short for “Birthday Party” – and the principal campaign committee’s name is Kanye 2020.

It comes a day after New York Magazine reported that political advisor Steve Kramer, believed to have been hired by the rapper, said “he’s out” of the presidential race.

The intention behind West’s filing is unclear, for although his name will appear as an independent candidate on the ballot of Oklahoma, a state of just 4 million residents, the filing deadlines in many other states have already passed.

It also remains to be seen whether he wants to or will succeed in collecting the signatures required to appear on the ballots of the remaining states, since the requirements are different in each place.

He has not commented on the move.

West officially announced his candidacy on July 4.

“We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States,” he wrote on Twitter.

His inclusion on the Oklahoma ballot comes after Forbes magazine published an interview with the musician in which he said he no longer supported President Donald Trump, whom he had previously fervently defended; that he has never voted in his life; that he had COVID-19 in February and was suspicious of a vaccine, terming them “the mark of the beast”; and that Planned Parenthoods “have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devil’s work.”

Kanye, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, said his White House organizational model would be based on the fictional country of Wakanda from the movie “Black Panther.”

He also said that his campaign slogan would be “YES!” and that he chose the name Birthday Party, because “when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.” EFE-EPA

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