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August 05, 2020 11:34 AM UTC

Local Republican Usual Suspect Helping Kanye Make Ballot

  • 9 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: Colorado Public Radio’s Bente Birkeland:

Entrepreneur and musician Kanye West has filed to be on the ballot in Colorado as an unaffiliated candidate for president of the United States. The deadline to file paperwork to get on the Colorado ballot was 3 p.m. Wednesday.

“Mr. West’s campaign has filed the paperwork along with the $1,000 filing fee. Our office will still need to review that the presidential electors filed are registered Colorado voters before his paperwork is confirmed as complete,” said a spokeswoman for the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. West needed to submit the names of nine voters who pledged to support him in the race and to represent him in the Electoral College should he win Colorado.

—–

UPDATE: 9NEWS’ Marshall Zelinger makes the “joke” official:

—–

Kanye West.

Vice’s Cameron Joseph reports–are you “in on the joke?”

A top Colorado GOP strategist is helping Kanye West to get on the ballot in her state, the latest in a series of Republicans who have stepped up to help the hip hop star in his odd presidential bid.

Rachel George, a longtime Republican operative in Colorado, sent an email to at least one other local GOP strategist on Tuesday asking them to sign West’s Presidential Electors’ Acceptance of Nomination form so he can appear on the ballot in Colorado…

News that ex-Cory Gardner spox and local Republican fixture Rachel George, one half of the Andy and Rachel George full-time political operative couple on the ground in Colorado for many years now is taking money from Kanye West for “Ye’s” on-again, off-again, and probably off-again-for-good soon presidential aspirations is not in itself evidence of a Republican conspiracy to split Colorado non-Trump votes in November. As the old saying goes, a check is a check–and plenty of people on both sides have gladly taken money from campaigns they weren’t truly invested in heart and soul (see: Bloomberg, Michael).

But as Vice continues, it’s clear that whatever bedevilment opportunity Kanye might afford Colorado Republicans in their uphill struggle this year against majority Democrats is at least partly factoring into Rachel George’s thinking:

It’s clear from the tone of the email, obtained by VICE News, that she thinks it’s a rather funny, last-minute effort to mess with Joe Biden and Democrats.

“I have the most random favor to ask of you ever… would you help me get Kanye West on the ballot in Colorado? No, I am not joking, and I realize this is hilarious,” she wrote.

Later, George says she’s looking for operatives who are “in on the joke” to help West get on the ballot. [Pols emphasis]

What say you, readers? How many votes is this “joke”–which we know is a joke, and Rachel George knows is a joke, but sadly Kanye West himself might not actually understand is a joke–worth Colorado Republicans in votes that might have otherwise gone to Joe Biden? Our guess is not very many, but in the situation they’re in today, any advantage helps.

And, you know, a check is a check.

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9 thoughts on “Local Republican Usual Suspect Helping Kanye Make Ballot”

  2. Sounds like Ms. George might need to revisit the Presidential Ballot Access requirements page – all deadlines for presidential ballot appearance as a major party nominee, as an independent, and as a write-in have passed.

    from Ballotpedia

    from Colorado Secretary of State page: (Unaffiliated Candidate Petition Nomination) The process is 1) qualify, 2) submit 5000 signatures from voters 3) approve petition by S o S. Guessing Secretary Griswold might not do an emergency approval for Kanye?

    Today is the deadline to qualify as an independent by paying $1,000. However, there is nothing there about electors nominating random candidates.

    1. The Vice reporting is in serious error then:

      "It’s easy to get on the ballot in Colorado — presidential campaigns just pay a fee and find nine registered voters to sign a public document pledging to vote for their candidate if they win the Electoral College."

      I see the same effort going on in WI and other states too.

    2. Colorado Sec of State site says

      Step 1: Eligibility for ballot access

      Candidates must meet the basic qualifications for office.

      Must meet the qualifications for office outlined in Article II, Section 1(5) of the United States Constitution.

      Step 2: Submit statement of intent forms

      All required items must be filed with the Secretary of State no later than 90 days before the general election. [1]

      1. Complete the Unaffiliated Candidate Statement of Intent for President (PDF) and Unaffiliated Candidate Statement of Intent for Vice President (PDF) forms and have them notarized. 
      2. A nonrefundable filing fee of $1,000, payable by check or money order made out to the Colorado Department of State
      3. Complete the Presidential Electors’ Acceptance of Nomination (PDF) form. 
      4. Mail or hand deliver to:
        Colorado Secretary of State
        Attention: Ballot Access
        1700 Broadway, Suite 200
        Denver, CO 80290

      Step 3: Submit audio recording

      Candidate audio recording must be submitted to the Secretary of State no later than 90 days before the general election. 

      The audio recording must state the candidate’s name exactly as it appears on the candidate acceptance form, as this is how the candidate’s name will appear on the ballot. [2]

      Step 4: Names placed on general election ballot

      I’m looking forward to finding out who the 9 who pledge to support and serve are.

        1. The Secretary of State's website is a train wreck in many respects (always has been) and should never be relied on exclusively for anything. Here, however, the site is describing two different alternatives to reaching the same goal, namely ballot access for unaffiliated presidential candidates.

          One option is the petition process described on the page you linked. The signature requirement is detailed in C.R.S. § 1-4-802(1)(c). The SoS needs to update the info on the summary page you linked, since in 2019 the legislature upped the signature requirement from 5,000 to 1,500 per congressional district.

          The other option is one described on the page John quoted. That one's set out in C.R.S. § 1-4-303(1). This is a separate, distinct option, as shown in the statutory language that the process applies to "an unaffiliated candidate for the office of president or vice president of the United States who has not submitted a petition for nomination pursuant to section 1-4-802 . . . ." 

          The either/or nature of the options appears on the SoS website here, which is a ballot access link farm for presidential and vice presidential candidates. Under "General Election for unaffiliated candidates" you'll find two links, one for the petition process and one for the statement-of-intent process.

          So why would an unaffiliated candidate for president go through the rather onerous petition process when s/he can get on the ballot by simply paying a fee, filing some forms, and getting 9 dipshits to sign up for electoral college duty? S/he wouldn't. As a professor said to a class I was in many a moon ago, "Repeat after me: this law . . . is dumb."

          1. Thanks for clearing that up, G. The S o S should make those 2 routes clear. It’s fricking insane to put some jerkoff on the ballot based on the say-so of nine party hacks, while demanding that down ballot candidates have to spend bigly and work volunteers to the bone to gather 1500 sigs per CD. As we did for Lorena Garcia during a pandemic.

            On the brighter side, our Secretary of State did Colorado proud last night on the ReidOut, touting CO’s safe mail in ballot system:

             

  3. This is just more "flooding the zone".

    Kanye is just trying to drain votes away from Biden. Money is no object when it comes to feeding his ego, and that of his buddy Donnie. They are two of a kind. This is an Egopalooza, if you will.

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