Kanye West’s presidential campaign is facing allegations of using deceptive methods to get signatures in Virginia. Voters were allegedly deceived by signature gatherers circulating paperwork to qualify West for the Virginia elections.
According to the Washington Post, Virginia’s State Board of Elections says they received two affidavits from registered voters saying that West’s campaign misled them into signing up to vote for Kanye.
Matthan Wilson, a 53-year-old high school teacher, says that he was riding his bike and was approached by three people who asked him if he wanted to join in a statewide pool of electors. “I am so embarrassed,” Wilson said. “I don’t want to be an elector for Kanye West. I don’t want to vote for Kanye West. I only like one or two of his songs,” he continued.
A reporter later told Wilson what he had signed up to be was an elector for Kanye West. “I feel that I’ve been cheated,” Wilson added.
A woman by the name of Samantha Durant also filed an affidavit. She said she was asked if she would sign a petition to get “an independent candidate on the ballot.” She too did not know she signed up to be an elector for Mr. West.
Another woman, Barbara Scheeler, who is a 55-year-old Alexandria Realtor, said that she was approached by someone who asked her to sign a petition “to give somebody else a chance” on the ballot. They refused to answer Scheeler’s questions, and the name of the candidate was kept covered up.
“If this is the way that they were handling most of the signatures, I think that people didn’t realize what they were signing,” Scheeler said. “It was very, very deceptive.”
Despite using these tactics to get signatures, West is still set to appear on Virginia’s ballot as an independent candidate. He was able to get 5,000 petition signatures with a minimum of 200 coming from each congressional district. It is unknown at this time whether these affidavits will affect his eligibility.
However, this isn’t the first time West has been accused of using shady tactics to get his signatures. It was reported not too long ago that he used fake signatures to get on the ballot in Wisconsin and did not make the ballot in Illinois, because of the same issue.
