Cornel West, who is running for president as an independent, claims that he has secured sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot in November in Michigan—a state upon which U.S. President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has focused heavily.
West’s campaign said it was “thrilled to announce the submission of signatures far exceeding double the required number to the Michigan secretary of state this week.”
In the Thursday statement, the campaign said the signatures were a “significant achievement,” and that “Michigan, a key battleground state with a narrow margin of victory among Biden and Trump, represents a key strategic victory for the campaign.”
West described his campaign as “bringing the voices of the forgotten” into the political process.
Sam May, press secretary for the Michigan Department of State, told JNS that West’s campaign indeed turned the petition in on Monday.
“The Michigan Bureau of Elections is now processing the petitions to determine if he has adequate valid signatures,” May told JNS. May added that the bureau “cannot provide a specific estimate on how long it will take to complete each canvass.”
According to a recent Emerson College/The Hill poll, West and Jill Stein (Green Party) are each polling at 1% in Michigan, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (independent) is polling at 5%. Former President Donald Trump leads Biden 44% to 42% in the poll.