The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Kanye West will not appear on the state’s Nov. 3 presidential ballot as an independent candidate, despite the rapper’s efforts to run in the state.
The decision came just hours before eight of Arizona’s 15 counties faced a deadline for printing election ballots.
The court said in its ruling that West’s electors did not file a necessary election document that stated their names and political parties, The Associated Press reported. The justices added that any nominating signatures collected before presidential electors filed their “statements of interest” are invalid.
The ruling follows a lower court’s decision last week on a lawsuit filed by an Arizona resident asking that West be barred from appearing on the state’s ballot. The lawsuit argued that independent presidential candidates can only appear on Arizona’s ballot if they are not currently registered with a recognized political party. West is a registered Republican in Wyoming.
The lawsuit added that West’s presence on the ballot could cause “harm” because people could throw “away a vote on a disqualified candidate.” West has previously vocalized support for President Trump.
West has successfully qualified to appear on ballots in several states, including Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Tennessee, Utah and Mississippi. He did not qualify in Ohio, Montana, West Virginia, Virginia, Wisconsin and other states.
A federal filing released last week showed that West has funneled nearly $6.8 million of his own money into his quixotic White House bid.