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Kanye West has lost a court case that could have allowed him to appear on the election ballot in Wisconsin.
The rapper was previously ruled not to qualify to appear on the ballot in the state when he failed to meet the deadline to file his nomination papers.
Now, a judge in the Brown County Circuit has upheld that decision, declaring that the state’s elections commission was right to keep West’s name off the ballot. “The unfortunate fact is this dispute could have been avoided had the West representatives simply arrived earlier,” said Judge John Zakowski.
“Candidates need to plan ahead and arrive in time to get into the building and file the papers in the office of the commission prior to the deadline, there are no exceptions under the statute or the relevant case law.”
West’s lawsuit claimed that the deadline, which was set at 5pm, did not expire until 5:01pm and that his papers had still been accepted by staff. It also argued that because the commission’s building was locked when the star’s campaign staff arrived, they had to call the commission to be let in.
One worker at the commission said that West’s representatives hadn’t placed the paperwork on the counter until 5:01pm and by the time they were officially accepted it was several minutes past the deadline.
The decision could be appealed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court but, with state law requiring all mail votes to have been posted by September 17, the state elections commission have argued adding new nominees to the ballot and reprinting them would cause “confusion and disorder”.
West announced his plans to run for president under The Birthday Party on July 4, 2020. He has missed the deadline to appear on ballots in numerous states and will only be able to win the election through a considerable write-in campaign.
Meanwhile, the star was hospitalised last week, citing “too much texting” as the cause of his injuries. On Wednesday (September 9), he shared an X-Ray image of his right hand and said he “had to get the cortisone mixed with a wittle sprinkle of lidocaine” to heal the problem.
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