Kanye West may have missed deadline to get on Wisconsin ballot by minutes: report

Kanye West may have filed to appear on Wisconsin’s presidential ballot minutes after the Tuesday deadline, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

A video captured by a reporter depicts Lane Ruhland, an attorney for President Trump, arriving at the state elections commission’s office in Madison on Tuesday evening. Records indicate Ruhland and an assistant went into the building about 20 seconds after 5 p.m., the cutoff, but they would have to take the elevator to the commission’s office on the third floor.

A local news reporter present at the scene tweeted Ruhland entered the building “just after 5.”

“No comment” as woman enters election commission building just after 5p in Madison to drop off signatures for Kanye West pic.twitter.com/zVxePn5Fe2

— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) August 4, 2020

Elections Commission spokesman Reid Magney told the Journal-Sentinel he couldn’t say for sure the exact time of the filing.

“That’s a question the commissioners are going to have to answer,” he told the newspaper.

“WEC staff will provide the Commission members with a detailed timeline surrounding the filing of the nomination papers as part of its report on ballot access for a future meeting,” Magney added. “It will be up to the Commission to decide whether the deadline was met.”

The six-person commission is equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. Numerous figures with GOP ties have been connected to West’s attempts to gain ballot access, including at least five of his 10 Wisconsin electors.

Black Milwaukee officials in a Thursday news conference denounced West’s attempts to get on the ballot in the state as a GOP ploy that assumed he would pull Black support from former Vice President Joe Biden.

“We are here to basically say that you cannot fool us,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said, according to the newspaper. “We see what is happening.”

“Kanye West is supporting Trump,” Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson said, according to the newspaper. “Do not be mistaken.”