Kanye petitions to appear on Iowa ballot, urges Trump & Biden to discuss ways of empowering black Americans

Kanye West’s presidential campaign has asked to appear on the Iowa ballot, keeping his 2020 bid alive as the entertainer called to meet with Donald Trump and Joe Biden to discuss “restoring the black community.”

Representatives for the West campaign brought nominating petitions to the office of Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate on Friday, the secretary said in a tweet, adding that they would be reviewed to “ensure they meet the minimum requirements.”

“The review of petition signatures to see if they meet minimum requirements has started but likely will not be complete until Monday,” Pate went on, sharing a photo of West’s affidavit for candidacy.

The announcement comes as the rapper’s fledgling campaign hit a rough patch, failing to obtain ballot access in Illinois after around 2,000 signatures in his candidacy filing were deemed invalid, putting him far short of the 2,500 names required. The Wisconsin Democratic Party has also sought to put up roadblocks for the West campaign, asking state officials to keep him off the ballot last week over allegedly fraudulent signatures. Though his filing was rejected in the state earlier this month after missing a deadline by a mere 14 seconds, West lodged a legal complaint with the Wisconsin election commission on Monday.

Despite the ballot troubles, West appears undeterred, keeping the campaign going while tweeting out a steady stream of politically themed messages, some of them cryptic. Keeping with that trend, on Friday he called on both President Trump and candidate Biden to meet with Dr. Claud Anderson – author of ‘Powernomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America’ – “as soon as possible” to talk about “restoring the black community.” Neither Trump nor Biden have yet responded to the urgent request.

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