Kanye West misses deadline to qualify for South Carolina ballot

Rapper Kanye West did not submit a petition required for him to appear on the 2020 presidential ballot in South Carolina by Monday's deadline, the state’s election commission said, despite holding the first and only rally of his presidential campaign there on Sunday.

West faced a noon deadline to submit 10,000 petition signatures to appear on the ballot but failed to do so, said South Carolina Election Commission spokesperson Chris Whitmire.

After earlier proclaiming himself a supporter of President Donald Trump and teasing a future presidential run, West announced his White House campaign on the Fourth of July. Amid questions about how serious his plans to run were, the rapper filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission last week, listing “BDY” — the Birthday Party — as his party affiliation.

While he’s missed deadlines to qualify for the ballot in several states, West last week qualified to appear on the ballot in Oklahoma, where all that is required is a $35,000 filing fee.

But West appeared to be making a more concerted push in South Carolina, where on Saturday he asked supporters on Twitter to help him get on the ballot, tweeting out a list of locations where his fans could add their signatures. A day later the rapper held his first campaign rally in North Charleston where he railed against Harriet Tubman and abortion.

Missing Monday’s deadline means that for West to appear on ballots in South Carolina, he would need to seek — and win — the nomination for one of the certified political parties in the state, a long shot proposition. South Carolina doesn’t allow write-ins for president.