Kanye West shocks fans, sets ex-mother-in-law Kris Jenner's image as profile picture of Instagram account

West, who announced that he was running on Twitter, would have to work fast to get his name on the ballot alongside President Donald Trump, a Republican, and the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

West would have two routes to doing so.

• He could try to secure the backing of a smaller political party.
• Without a party helping him get on the ballot, another option would be to try to appear as an independent candidate.

But deadlines for registering that way have already passed in many states, including New Mexico and key battleground North Carolina. Getting on the ballot as an independent would also require hiring staff or recruiting volunteers to quickly gather many tens of thousands of signatures across the nation before other registration periods close in August and September, a task now made more difficult by the pandemic.

It is unclear if West, who is also known for his marriage to reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, has filed any official paperwork to appear on state election ballots.

Even with a serious campaign, West would be unlikely to draw more than a few percentage points of the vote, peeling away similar numbers of votes from Trump and Biden.