#Kanye West drops effort to be on New Jersey presidential ballot

“Screams from the haters” kept Kanye West from getting on the presidential ballot in New Jersey.

West has withdrawn his petition to appear as an independent presidential candidate on the state’s ballot, according to an email chain between a judge and someone representing the billionaire rapper using a campaign email address.

In the email, the unidentified person tells Administrative Law Judge Gail Cookson that the campaign will not be disputing a challenge raised about West being on the ballot.

“At this time, Kanye 2020 has no further option than to regrettably withdraw from New Jersey and cease further efforts to place Mr. West’s name on the New Jersey ballot,” the email to Cookson reads.

“I will consider this email as a request for a withdrawal of your petition to be placed in nomination for the President of the United States in the State of New Jersey,” the judge replied.

In late July, election attorney Scott Salmon filed a legal complaint with the state Division of Elections after examining the 1,327 signatures West submitted for independent presidential candidates.

Salmon alleged in the complaint that 600 of sneaker-mogul-turned-politician’s signatures were fraudulent, which would have left West with under the state’s minimum of 800 required signatures.

“Mr. West’s petitions do not contain the valid signatures of 800 qualified voters and should have been rejected by the Division,” Salmon, a registered Democrat, wrote in the complaint.

Salmon also alleged that some signatures appeared to be written in nearly identical handwriting and others lacked complete addresses.

Asked about West’s decision to drop his effort to be on the ballot in the Garden State, Salmon was pleased.

“I am glad that the Kanye campaign has realized that their petition was so deficient that it wasn’t even worth defending. It sort of highlights the fact that it shouldn’t have been submitted in the first place,” he said.

West has until this week to get on the ballot in the critical state of California, where he needs just under 197,000 signatures by Friday evening.

If he cannot get on the ballot in the Golden State, it will have become mathematically impossible for West to assume the presidency in 2020, according to an analysis of the electoral map by Forbes.

As of the first week in August, West has already forfeited 225 Electoral College votes due to missed deadlines. California has 55 electoral votes, making it a must-win for the rapper.

West has qualified to be on the ballot in Oklahoma and has submitted signatures to appear on the Illinois and Missouri ballots.

He is also working to get on the ballot in Ohio and West Virginia.

West launched his late-entry presidential bid over July 4 weekend, saying at the time that he was starting his own political party as well, “the Birthday Party.”

Asked why his political party would be called the Birthday Party, he explained, “Because when we win, it’s everybody’s birthday.”

With Post wires