How Kanye is trying to get into the polls in South Carolina

Kanye West is moving forward in an effort to collect the 10,000 signatures needed to appear on the presidential ballot in South Carolina, just days after qualifying to run in Oklahoma.

According to a statement sent by the rapper and obtained by Intelligencer, there are nine locations where petitions to put West on the ballot box are available to be signed on Saturday and Sunday. West has until noon on Monday to send the signatures needed to enter the vote in Palmetto state. Saturday night, West tweeted most of the locations listed in the statement are places where voters can sign petitions. The tweet did not include addresses. The campaign is also apparently announcing the momentum on Facebook.

Cedric Smalls, the owner of Chucktown Bar & Grill – which was one of nine locations listed by the West campaign – told Intelligencer that he was approached by one of his radio sales representatives about the effort. “[She] explained to me that Kanye was trying to get X amount of signatures and asked me to allow my place to be a place where citizens could petition him to participate in the presidential vote, ”he said. “And since I try to use my place for everyone who wants to market to the public, I said ‘why not’.”

Courtney Scipio, an employee at Inspired by Annette Events, said she was approached by “someone from our local chamber [of commerce] who I think was talking to the campaign manager. ”She said people were” coming and going “on Saturday to sign the petitions. Scipio wasn’t sure if she would vote for West, “You would never know.”

Cassandra Boswell, who said she was working with the Western campaign team, told Intelligencer that she heard about the effort through a friend. “We have been looking for some places and talking to some people who have the same opinion and really wanted to support and see the changes. Everyone wanted to offer their locations and do what they could to help the campaign. ” Boswell said there were more than “20 people” helping with the effort. She also said she was not sure if she would vote for West. “I could. I haven’t decided yet. While we’re at work, I’m learning.”

However, at New Bethel Sounds of Praise, a church listed as another place where petitions could be signed, the woman who answered the phone, who identified herself only as “Dee,” said that this effort was not taking place there. That was not the only sign of disorganization in the West team’s seemingly rushed effort. Henry Ravenel, head of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce, was surprised that his name was listed in the original statement sent by the campaign’s advertising venues where the petitions would be gathered. Mistaking Intelligencer for a West campaign representative, he said: “A call would be good before the email, I wanted it to be listed in a certain way as an address. I am the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce and this may be a conflict of interest. ”(Ravenel Trucking was later listed in West’s tweet naming the locations. New Bethel Sounds of Praise, no.)

The signature collection followed an evening tweet from West on Friday that included a link to a form where South Carolina voters could use Docusign to sign a petition to put the rapper on the ballot in the state. Although South Carolina does allow digital signatures in some circumstances, it is unclear whether the format used online would be valid. (The Western campaign did not respond to a request for comment on its work in the state.)

South Carolina has been a consistently republican state in the recent presidential election. Donald Trump won by a 55 to 41 percent margin in 2016, after Barack Obama twice lost the state by a 10 percent margin. However, South Carolina has one of the most competitive parliamentary contests in the country, with Democratic freshman Joe Cunningham facing re-election in a conservative district of Charleston and a potentially competitive campaign for the Senate, where Democrat Jaime Harrison is beating Lindsey Graham in a dispute considered “Probably Republican” by the non-partisan Cook Political Report.

West’s South Carolina effort comes after he officially ran for president in Oklahoma, which requires only a $ 35,000 fee, and submitted a formal candidacy statement to the Federal Election Commission.

The rapper tweeted on July 4 that he was planning to run for president and then began organizing an effort to reach the polls in Florida, which required 132,781 valid signatures sent through July 15, before backing down. West has since missed the Michigan voting deadline, which required him to submit 30,000 signatures by July 16. In addition to South Carolina, Illinois has a Monday deadline for independent candidates seeking to petition the ballot. West, who grew up in the state, would need to send 2,500 signatures valid until 5 pm local time to the Illinois Secretary of State.

This post has been updated.