Rapper Kanye West qualifies to be on Mississippi’s presidential ballot

Published 12:14 pm Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Kanye West will appear as a presidential candidate on Mississippi’s ballot in November, after being approved as a qualified candidate by the State Board of Election Commissioners on Tuesday.

The rapper has already qualified to appear on the ballot as an independent candidate in several states, including Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Utah.

To qualify in Mississippi, he was required to pay a $2,500 fee to the Secretary of State’s Office and get the signatures of at least 1,000 Mississippi voters.

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“It was interesting to see him pick Mississippi, and obviously it will be interesting to see what happens with that vote on Nov. 3,” Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said after the board’s meeting. “But he did qualify.”

West, who once backed Republican President Donald Trump, announced last month that he had broken with Trump and would launch his own presidential bid. His campaign filed paperwork July 15 with the Federal Election Commission.