Kanye West is officially on the ballot as a presidential candidate in the state of Oklahoma. Only hours after the rapper filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, he formally entered the presidential campaign. A public affairs officer for the Oklahoma Board of Elections told New York that a representative for West showed up at the Oklahoma Board of Elections with a properly executed statement of candidacy and the $35,000 filing fee. This was the last day that independent presidential candidates could file to appear on the ballot in the Sooner State.
A copy of the statement posted online was signed by West in Miami on Thursday and features a full slate of electors, as well as the signature of a notary employed by NBC. It lists the same address filed with the FEC as well as including West’s birthday — June 8, 1977.
West’s entrance in the race marks the latest shift in the rapper’s zigzag approach to the 2020 campaign. He tweeted on July 4 that he was running and then, as New York reported, started to mount an effort to get on the ballot in Florida before pulling back. Florida has onerous requirements to get on the ballot: West would have needed to get 132,781 valid signatures by close of business today.
