CHARLESTON – Kanye West’s court challenge to get his independent presidential campaign on the general election ballot in West Virginia has been denied.
U.S. District Judge Irene Berger denied the rapper’s injunction request in September 14 order. West originally filed his complaint August 28 in federal court against West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, whose office oversees elections.
“Because of the enormous burden posed by requiring the plaintiff and his running mate to be printed on the ballot at this late stage, the court finds the harm that would be inflicted on the government and the public at large if the injunction were granted is greater than the harm that would be inflicted on plaintiff if the preliminary injunction were denied,” Berger wrote in the 10-page order.
West failed to gather the required signatures to get his name on the statewide ballot. He filed his candidate papers in the state August 3, and he was required to gather 7,144 qualified signatures to turn in with the paperwork.
His campaign submitted more than 14,000 signatures, but county clerks invalidated more than half of them. He was left with 6,383 valid signatures.
The eight-page complaint says West’s campaign obtained the credentials to collect signatures and collected them in the midst of Gov. Jim Justice’s “Safer at Home” order.
“While Governor Justice and Defendant West Virginia Secretary of State made accommodations for those participating in the 2020 Primary Election, such as moving the primary election date and providing absentee ballot forms for all registered voters, no such accommodations have been made for individuals with no party affiliation wishing to avail themselves to the ballot access process,” the complaint states. “West Virginia’s ballot access provisions remain unaltered despite defendant West Virginia Secretary of State’s recommendation for a 50 percent reduction in signatures required for non-major party candidates seeking ballot access.”
The complaint says West’s campaign had “no opportunity to challenge the invalidation of the submitted nomination certificates, or in any other way cure possible errors in order to qualify for the General Election ballot.”
West says he is a victim of a violation of freedom of speech and association, equal protection and due process guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. He says he faces “imminent depravation of his liberty interest … due to the lack of any procedural safeguards whatsoever surrounding (state code’s) signature-matching requirement.”
West sought an emergency briefing schedule and emergency hearing date on his motion for preliminary Injunction, a declaratory judgment saying the applicable parts of state code are unconstitutional as applied to him, a preliminary injunction keeping Warner from enforcing those applicable parts of state code and requiring he and running mate Michelle Tidball be placed on the West Virginia 2020 General Election ballot.
West is being represented by J. Mark Adkins, Richard R. Heath Jr., Joshua A. Lanham and Unaiza R. Tyree of Bowles Rice in Charleston. West’s legal team declined further comment for the story. A representative for the Secretary of State's office referred questions to Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:20-cv-00570
