RCIHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — Attorney General Mark Herring has filed a response opposing Kanye West’s motion for a stay pending appeal in an effort to get on the Virginia ballot saying, “Appellants are simply too late and the petition for appeal should be denied.”
This comes just two weeks after the rapper turned potential independent presidential candidate had his name blocked from the November election ballot following an emergency hearing in Richmond.
In early-September, a Richmond judge ordered the Virginia State Board of Elections to not print West’s name on the November presidential ballot. They say 11 of the 13 required Elector Oaths obtained by his campaign were “improper, fraudulent and/or misleading.”
In a recent brief where Herring opposes Kanye’s appeal to the decision, he argues time is crucial in Kanye’s case because of ballot printing deadlines.
According to Herring, West “did not appeal for five days and did not seek to stay for six days.”
He claims all of the ballots that have been finalized since the circuit court’s decision have omitted petition West’s name from the list of eligible candidates.
Herring also shares that, “… as of the morning of Thursday, September 10, 2020, all 133 of the Commonwealth’s localities have started the ballot-production process.”
The attorney general goes on to say the commonwealth respondents have been clear throughout litigation that “all … jurisdictions” needed to “finalize their ballots no later than … Friday, September 4, 2020.”
“Ballots are not — and cannot be — prepared overnight. Ballot finalization is a detail-heavy and time-consuming process that involves not simply printing, but also programming, proofing, assembling, addressing, and ultimately, mailing. And here the task is further complicated by both the existence of an ongoing pandemic and en explosion in demand for absentee ballots for the November 2020 election.”
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring
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