Sanders: No, I didn’t sign petition to get Kanye West on Wisconsin ballot

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that he did not sign a petition to get rapper Kanye West to appear on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin. 

NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked Sanders about his name appearing on West’s ballot petitions. 

“One of his petition signatures that apparently right now is being used to get him on the ballot is by the name of a gentleman by the name of Bernie Sanders. And it claims that you have signed this. Mickey Mouse also apparently signed these petition signatures. I just want to confirm that that is not you, sir, that signed a petition,” Todd said. 

“I cannot confirm Mickey Mouse … but I can tell you I certainly did not sign that petition,” Sanders responded. 

The senator’s denial comes as Democrats challenge West’s ballot petition signatures, arguing that some questionable names stood out, including Sanders and Mickey Mouse. 

West’s campaign team turned in more than 2,400 signatures in his bid to get on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. To get on the ballot as an independent, a candidate needs 2,000 signatures approved by state regulators. 

Wisconsin’s Democratic Party filed a complaint earlier this month asking state regulars to block West from appearing on the ballot, stating his campaign was late in submitting signatures and questioning some of the names. The complaint also included affidavits from six individuals who said they were duped into putting their names on West’s paperwork, the Journal Sentinel noted. 

An attorney for West said the burden is on the Democratic Party to prove that real Wisconsin voters did not sign the petitions.