A law firm in Virginia with links to the Democratic Party is working to keep Kanye West off the November presidential ballot.
Perkins Coie law firm, which rose to prominence “representing the Democratic political leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate,” filed a lawsuit in Richmond Circuit Court on behalf of two Virginia residents who said they were tricked into signing West’s ballot petition. West filed the required 5,000 signatures with Virginia election officials and is set to appear on the ballot unless a court overturns the filing for errors or irregularities.
Suffolk residents Matthan Wilson and Bryan Wright claim that campaign volunteers obfuscated the reasons for gathering their signatures. The two plaintiffs are hopeful that West’s name will be removed from ballots in Virginia that begin to be sent to absentee voters on Sept. 19.
Wilson, a high school government teacher, said he was “so embarrassed” after he was named as one of 13 statewide electors on West’s filing.
“I don’t want to be an elector for Kanye West,” Wilson told the Washington Post. “I don’t want to vote for Kanye West. I only like one or two of his songs.”
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring called for an emergency hearing to resolve the situation as the clock ticks toward the election.
“This Court has had little patience for keeping candidates on the ballot who have used underhanded and fraudulent tactics to ‘steal a spot on the ballot,’” Herring said in a court filing.
West, who moved from Los Angeles to Wyoming in 2019 and has emphasized his relationship with God over the past couple of years in his work, will appear on several state ballots, including Oklahoma, Utah, and Colorado. Signatures filed by his campaign have been scrutinized in some states, and New Jersey officials kicked him off the state’s ballot after signature irregularities were found in his ballot petition.
