Kanye West fails to submit signatures to get on South Carolina’s presidential race ballot
Last week West successfully got his name on the ballot as an independent in Oklahoma, where only a $35,000 filing fee is required
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rapper Kanye West did not submit any of the 10,000 signatures he needed by noon Monday to get on the ballot in South Carolina for the presidential election, according to a state election official, despite holding a rally in the state one day before.
Last week, West successfully got his name on the ballot as an independent in Oklahoma, where only a $35,000 filing fee is required.
On Saturday, he tweeted a number of locations where supporters could sign the petition to have his name on the ballot.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But by the noon deadline, neither West nor any representative had shown up to deliver the petition to the South Carolina Election Commission, commission spokesman Chris Whitmire told Fox News.
In order to appear on the ballot in the Palmetto State, West would have to receive the nomination of one of 10 political parties certified in South Carolina. He had previously announced that he would be running as a candidate under the self-created "Birthday Party."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WEST GETS EMOTIONAL ON PRO-LIFE CAUSE AT FREEWHEELING EVENT:'NO MORE PLAN B. PLAN A'
In his first event since declaring himself a presidential candidate, West delivered an emotional monologue in Charleston, S.C., on Sunday, denouncing abortion and voicing controversial views about abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
"No more Plan B — Plan A," he said to a mixed response from the audience about the emergency contraceptive that helps prevent pregnancy within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}West said that while he believed abortion should be legal, financial incentives to help struggling mothers could be a way to discourage the practice.
“Everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars,” he said as an example.
Speaking without a microphone, West became tearful while talking about abortion, about his mother, who died following plastic surgery complications in 2007, and about his wife, reality television star Kim Kardashian West.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Even if my wife wants to divorce me after this speech, she brought North into the world even when I didn’t want to. She stood up and she protected that child. You know who else protected a child? Forty-three years ago, who do you think protected a child?” West said crying.
"My mom saved my life. My dad wanted to abort me. My mom saved my life. There would have been no Kanye West because my dad was too busy," he said.
His rambling speech went from religion to international trade and licensing deals.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other White people,” he said, apparently trying to make a bigger point about race and advantages. One crowd member right afterward groaned, “Come on, man,” while a woman could be heard saying, “OK, we’re leaving now.”
West initially shared his dreams of being the third candidate to run against President Trump and Joe Biden in a tweet on the Fourth of July.
"We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
Days later, West conducted a lengthy interview with Forbes in which he declared he no longer supported Trump and said that Biden was not "special."
Fox News' Andrew Craft, Frank Miles and Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.