On September 3, the West Virginia Secretary of State asked the U.S. District Court that is hearing Kanye West’s ballot access case to transfer the case to another U.S. District Court Judge, who is hearing the lawsuit filed by independent gubernatorial candidate Marshall Wilson. Here is the state’s eight-page request. Kanye West’s case is West v Warner, 2:20cv-570. Marshall Wilson’s case is 2:20cv-526.
The two cases are not similar, even if they both concern ballot access. Wilson’s case concerns the health crisis. He did not submit as many signatures as are required, but he asks to be put on the ballot anyway. By contrast, West’s case is about due process. West submitted twice as many signatures as are required, but he was told he did not have enough valid and he was not given a chance to challenge that finding.
West Virginia’s administration has treated S. Marshall Wilson unfairly from the announcement of his campaign. Marshall made a valiant effort to go by the unfair regulations put upon him under the governor’s unconstitutional mandates, and he deserves to be put on the West Virginia ballot. Kanye West, on the other hand, obviously had ample time to collect signatures, more than doubled the number needed, but still fell short. I honestly believe that falls on him and as such, his case does not carry the same weight as candidate Wilson’s should.
They BOTH had ample time to collect signatures. Signature gathering for any office in West Virginia can begin the day after the most recent election for that office. Marshall could have begun petitioning in early November, 2016 and likewise for Kanye. Almost FOUR YEARS worth of time for governor and president. The fact that Marshall insisted on waiting until after the primary to begin was his big mistake and he needs to own up to it.
If somebody really wants to improve the system in West Virginia, we need legislation passed to amend the election code to allow parties to petition for blanket ballot access WITHOUT the need to name their candidates nearly four years in advance. Neighboring Maryland allows this. 10,000 valid signatures in Maryland qualifies ANY party to be allowed to hold a nominating convention just like the establishment parties. Let’s get both the Independent and Birthday Parties qualified in the Mountain State.
Kanye West had no idea he was going to run in 2016.
Doesn’t matter. He’s running as the nominee of a party and parties are allowed to have stand-in candidates. The Birthday Party could have begun petitioning way back then and named anyone they wanted as their stand-in.
Jim justice cheated us citizens of access by moving the primary forward and all along scheeming in the larger cities where he knew he could disadvantage voters. all the Parkersburg polls were closed and moved to 3 locations, with little notice. All the voters used to walk to the polls when I lived there. Was this a scheme designed by Melody P. to steal votes or was it just a JJ plan? Jim Justice also had the state shut down preventing us from getting signatures. Hell I remember a time if someone shows up at your house in the middle of the night with a clown mask on we had a law which making a mask illegal. That law is https://law.justia.com/codes/west-virginia/2005/61/wvc61-6-22.html.
Kanye West is not really running as the nominee of the Birthday Party. All of his petitions have been independent candidate petitions. In states that let candidates who use the independent procedure have a partisan label, he did not choose to have “birthday” next to his name. The only exception is New Jersey, but he withdrew that petition.
Many courts have concluded that the government argument that “you could have started years ago” is not a good argument. In many cases, people don’t know they want to run for office until public events in the election year itself create that desire. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt in the early months had no idea he would be starting a new party later that year. He expected to win the Republican nomination. In 1924, Senator Robert La Follette expected the Democratic Party to nominate a progressive presidential nominee, such as William Gibbs McAdoo. It was a big surprise in July that the party instead nominated a Wall Street banker/attorney, John W. Davis. That is why La Follette didn’t declare as an independent until July 4, 1924. Strom Thurmond in 1948, same thing; he didn’t expect the Democratic national convention to pass a platform plank in favor of a civil rights bill, so he didn’t start to run until July.
fixed declare candidacy date —
part of SHORT election period.
Thanks for that info, Richard.