Arizona Supreme Court rules Kanye West won’t appear on state ballot

PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that rapper Kanye West won’t appear on the Nov. 3 ballot as an independent presidential candidate.

The decision came after the rapper appealed a lower-court ruling last week that barred him from the ballot.

The ruling said West wasn’t eligible for the ballot because he didn’t follow a statute that requires candidates for office to file a statement of interest with the appropriate filing officer for that office.

Maricopa, Pima, Apache, Mohave, Pinal, Cochise, Coconino and La Paz counties faced a Tuesday deadline for printing ballots. The deadline for the remaining counties is late Wednesday afternoon.

West has qualified to appear on the ballot in several states, including Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Tennessee and Utah. He didn’t qualify in Ohio, Montana, West Virginia, Wisconsin and other states.

Last week, West’s campaign turned in nearly 58,000 nominating signatures, well over the 39,000 needed to appear on the Arizona ballot.

A lawsuit against West accused the rapper of serving as an election spoiler and argued that state law barred him from running as an independent candidate because he is a registered Republican.

West’s lawyers said their client’s status as a registered Republican in Wyoming was irrelevant to getting on the Arizona ballot. They said when West filed federal election paperwork, he listed his political party as “BDY,” an abbreviation for Birthday Party.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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