Some suggest the ease of filing with the Federal Election Commission inspired new potential candidates, real or otherwise.
Judith Ingram, spokeswoman for the FEC, said anyone can fill out FEC Form 2 — also known as a statement of candidacy — but the person is not considered a candidate until meeting other criteria.
“They don’t become a candidate until they’ve actually raised $5,000 in addition to announcing candidacy,” Ingram said. “So that would be the trigger for us in determining what is a real candidate, but it doesn’t necessarily mean all the rest are what you would call ‘fake candidates.’”
In most cases, hopefuls must then meet requirements beyond the FEC’s to be added to the ballot, said Geoffrey Skelley, spokesman for the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. These requirements also help separate fake candidates from real ones, he said.
“Just because you’ve filed Form 2 with the FEC doesn’t mean that you’re actually going to be on the ballot, because every state has different ballot qualifications,” Skelley said. “Most of them involve either paying a filing fee or getting enough signatures in that state to be on the ballot, or some combination of that. So, of course all of these joke candidates are never going to do it.”
Since the Deez Nuts story broke in late July, more than 500 statements of candidacy have been filed.
“After July 28 in 2012, just 19 candidates filed in that period after that point. And in 2008, just 14 filed,” Skelley said. “Clearly something is going on, and I’m sure it’s the fact that that story’s gotten so much coverage, and that inspired other people to take advantage of the relatively easy process.”
