What you need to know
- Kanye West thinks he'd make a great president, so he's running.
- Except, he might not be because his campaign ballot was filed 14 seconds late.
- His team reckons videos showing the ballot being handed in late are down to an iPhone's 'notoriously faulty' clock.
You've probably already read that Kanye West – apparently he makes sneakers? – wants to be president. He thinks it's a really good idea and has nobody around him willing to tell him that it isn't. Regardless, he might not get as far as actually campaigning after his campaign ballot was filed late.
Late, by 14 seconds. And, as an aside, you apparently can't trust an iPhone clock.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, West's team started out by arguing that the 5 p.m. deadline that everyone had to get their papers in by wasn't really a 5 p.m. deadline.
"The statutory provision does not distinguish between minutes and seconds," lawyer Michael Curran of Spring Green said in the filing. "For the average observer, arriving before 5:01 p.m. is arriving 'not later' than 5 p.m.
Next up was a raft of excuses involving people getting in the way and just general straw-grabbing. But the best excuse is, without a doubt, the claim that an iPhone clock showing someone filing the ballot late should be ignored. See, iPhones aren't very good at keeping time.
Curran dismisses a video and tweet by a WISN-TV (Channel 12) reporter that Ruhland and her assistant entered the building 18 seconds after 5 p.m. Curran also challenged a video by a Democratic Party staffer that suggested they arrived about 20 seconds after the deadline.That video, Curran said, used an iPhone clock to track Ruhland's entrance. Curran said such clocks are notoriously faulty.
Obviously, Kanye and his team are appealing and it's now down to six people to decide just how important those 14 seconds are.
The complaints will be reviewed by Elections Commission staffers, who will make a recommendation on West's nomination papers to the bipartisan board. The panel is made up of three Democrats and three Republicans.
Well then. Time to stop trusting that alarm you've got set.
