Republicans pushing Kayne West to take votes from Biden

His chances of winning the 2020 presidential race are mathematically impossible. He has dropped in and out of the race since July 4, when he announced his independent candidacy through the "Birthday Party".

And after a campaign rally for president last month in North Charleston, South Carolina, wearing a bulletproof vest and breaking down in tears, rapper Kayne West's wife, Kim Kardashian-West, posted messages on Instagram asking for the public's "compassion and empathy" as he struggles with bipolar disorder.

There's no evidence to suggest that West might have even a marginal impact on the race for the White House between President Donald Trump and former vice-president Joe Biden. He has missed too many states' filing deadlines to remain even a long shot.

But the billionaire recording artist is continuing his effort to get on state ballots. West is on the ballot in three states: Colorado, Oklahoma and Vermont. His petitions are being reviewed by state election boards in Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia. New Jersey and his home state of Illinois rejected him because of invalid signatures.

But in Wisconsin, a key swing state that Trump narrowly won in 2016, West has some Democrats worried that he could take votes from Biden if state election officials don't uphold last week's ruling that West was late — by 14 seconds — in meeting a 5 pm deadline for filing and filed bogus signatures. Among the dubious signatures submitted were those of Mickey Mouse and US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Amid complaints by West's campaign that Wisconsin Democrats are trying to block him from the ballot, his missing the 5 pm deadline and the bogus signatures 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.

Democrats allege that Republicans are pushing West's candidacy in Wisconsin and elsewhere in hopes of drawing African American voters away from Biden to boost Trump's reelection chances.

Lane Ruhland, an attorney for the Trump campaign, submitted the nominating papers for West's candidacy to the Wisconsin Elections Commission last week.

West himself has hinted about his hopes to take votes from Biden.

He told Forbes in a text message last week, "I'm not denying it, I just told you. To say that the Black vote is Democratic is a form of racism and white supremacy."

The turnout among Wisconsin's black voters dipped significantly in 2016 and may have contributed to Hillary Clinton's loss by fewer than 23,000 votes. Black voters are expected to play a key role in the presidential vote there again in November.

The effort to get West on the ballot has been criticized by David Crowley, a Democrat who took office in May as the first black executive of Milwaukee County. He said the effort appeared aimed at peeling off minority voters to boost Trump.

"This is the Republican Party really trying to take advantage of someone's mental state," he said, referring to West's bipolar disorder.

Last week, The New York Times and The Associated Press and this week The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times confirmed that Republican-affiliated lawyers, strategists and allies of Trump have been helping West file paperwork to be on the ballot in at least five states over the last two weeks. Each newspaper named some of those doing it, including Ruhland.

"We have no knowledge of what Kanye West is doing or who is doing it for him," Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told the AP.