Last Updated on September 3, 2020
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who admitted to wearing blackface after National File Senior Reporter Patrick Howley exposed Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s racist medical school yearbook photos, is now moving to strike Kanye West’s name from the 2020 presidential ballot.
Herring claims West’s ballot initiative may be fraudulent, with 11 of the 13 electors potentially being incorrect. According to a lawsuit filed in Virginia, by a law firm with ties to prominent Democrats, “11 of West’s 13 electors may be invalid.” It also “asks the court to block West’s name from appearing on ballots, which are set to be printed soon.”
A statement released by Herring’s office explains that “The Commonwealth of Virginia, including the state elections officials and entities named as Defendants, does not tolerate any type of election fraud,” and insinuates that West’s campaign may be using “underhanded and fraudulent tactics to ‘steal a spot on the ballot.'”
Since August 21, 2020 when West appeared to qualify for the Ballot, serious allegations have been made that the qualification papers of West’s purported electors, including Plaintiffs, were obtained fraudulently and/or contained attestations in violation of Virginia law. At the same time that these allegations were coming to light, local election officials were actively moving forward with preparing for the state and federal absentee ballot mailing deadline. These local officials were already quite concerned that they lacked sufficient time to mail all necessary ballots out to voters on or before September 19, 2020 as required by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, and Virginia Code § 24.2-612.
Should this Court determine that any of the qualification papers of West’s purported electors were obtained fraudulently, that any of the elector oaths were improperly attested and/or that other material errors exist in these papers, whether due to fraud or other reasons, and that such requires his disqualification, the Commonwealth Defendants will work with local electionofficials to effect West’s disqualification from the ballot. The remedies to this situation are varied depending upon how quickly the Court is able to rule.
CNN noted in February of 2019 that Herring became the second prominent Virginia Democrat to admit to wearing blackface, after the country was gripped by the revelation that the state’s pro-late term abortion governor once wore either Ku Klux Klan robes or blackface in a medical school yearbook photo.
The cable network reported that “Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring admitted Wednesday that he appeared in blackface at a 1980 party, further plunging Richmond into chaos as Democrats here struggle to overcome a trio of scandals rocking their three top statewide elected officials,” and that he “wore blackface as a 19-year-old to dress up as a rapper at a party.”
The admission came one day after the revelations about Northam.
