“The Commission has authorized staff to send verification letters to filers listing fictional characters, obscene language, sexual references, celebrities (where this is no indication that the named celebrity submitted the filing), animals, or similarly implausible entities as the name or contact information of the candidate or committee,” the statement read.
They have also created a new procedure and hired staff to “verify information in filings from the 2016 election cycle that appear to be unlawfully false or fictitious.”
“The new procedure comes in response to an increase this election cycle in the filing registration and statement of candidacy forms (FEC Forms 1 and 2) that provide patently false candidate or treasurer names, questionable contact or bank information, or material that does not relate to campaign finance, such as drawings, essays and personal court records,” according to the statement.
“Deez Nuts,” a candidate in the 2016 election cycle ended up being a 15-year-old teen from Iowa named Brady Olson, who later endorsed Bernie Sanders. The fictitious character was polling at nearly 10% in some surveys.
Though Deez Nuts dropped out in August, it is still polling ahead of Green Party nominee Jill Stein in Texas, according to a poll released this week.
Olson had registered the fictitious candidate in the summer of 2015. Other candidates registered during the election cycle included "Butt Stuff," "Master Alexander Soy Sauce and Taters Gordh First,” and "Limberbutt McCubbins," apparently the name of a cat.
