Joe Exotic Says He’s on Colorado Ballot

Joseph Maldonado, also known to Netflix viewers as Joe Exotic, has filed the necessary paperwork to appear on the Colorado ballot for the 2024 Democratic presidential primary, The Hill reports.

The 60-year-old former zookeeper was the subject of the 2020 hit Netflix documentary “Tiger King.”

Currently serving a 21-year sentence in federal prison for a murder-for-hire plot, Maldonado reportedly plans to run his 2024 election campaign from prison.

According to the Constitution, the only requirements to run for president are that someone is 35 years or older, is a natural-born citizen and has been a resident of the United States for 14 years; running for president from prison or as a convicted felon are permitted under the law.

Federal election filings show that Maldonado is running as a Democrat in 2024, but he has run for the presidency before. In 2016, the “Tiger King” star ran as an independent and in 2018 he ran for Oklahoma governor as a Libertarian.

Getting on the ballot for a major party presidential primary in Colorado requires that a candidate send a notarized statement of intent and a $500 nonrefundable filing fee at least 85 days before the election is set to take place.

Now that he’s on the ballot in Colorado, Maldonado said his next goal is to appear on the ballot in New Hampshire.

The former “Tiger King” said he plans to focus on issues such as federal marijuana decriminalization and reforming the Bureau of Land Management. He also criticized the Justice Department and called out former President Donald Trump for not fixing the “corrupt federal prison and justice system.”

Maldonado said that even though Trump has been federally indicted, he “will never experience the same system he ignored for the four years that he was President. He won’t be shackled and chained in an orange jumpsuit and made to look guilty like the rest of us are. He won’t be held without bond like the rest of us are, and he will be able to walk freely through all of his appeals and motions, even if he is convicted. Trump will not spend one day in federal prison, even if he gets convicted. The ‘good ole boy’ system will still apply to him.”

In his release, Maldonado also accused the former president of pardoning rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black “just to get the support from the black community.”

Maldonado applied for a pardon by Trump but did not receive one.

On Monday, KDVR reached out to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office for confirmation that Maldonado will be on the ballot but the office was closed in observance of Juneteenth.