New Jersey Attorney Challenges Kanye West's Presidential Ballot Petition
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A New Jersey attorney is challenging Kanye West's bid for the White House.
Election law attorney Scott Salmon says more than 600 signatures on the rapper's petition are in some way defective and that some of the writing appears identical.
"Mr. West's petitions do not contain the valid signatures of 800 qualified voters and should have been rejected by the Division," Salmon wrote in the complaint.
West submitted his petition with more than 1,300 signatures on Monday.
New Jersey only requires 800 signatures to appear on the ballot.
The status of West's presidential campaign and whether he is truly seeking the White House remains a question. Kim Kardashian West last week asked for empathy for her husband and said he is bipolar.
Earlier this month in South Carolina, Kanye West delivered an unconventional campaign introduction speech during which he proposed a $1 million payout to mothers and decried Harriet Tubman for her work on the Underground Railroad.
New Jersey law also allows for someone other than the candidate herself or himself to gather signatures. Those people are required to submit paperwork avowing they're who they say they are and the people whose signatures were collected are also who they say they are.
Those documents were not filed, according to Salmon's complaint.
Sometimes similar handwriting in some of the fields can be explained because the so-called circulator filled out the paperwork after the petition was signed, especially in cases where someone could be short on time, for instance, according to Salmon.
In five years as a New Jersey election law attorney there hasn't been an application with as many issues as West's, Salmon said.
Salmon said he did not file the letter on behalf of any Democratic organization and filed the complaint on his own behalf.
News of the complaint was first reported by Politico.
New Jersey is a reliably Democratic state in presidential elections, siding with the Democrat since 1988.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
