I think I jumped the gun. I had to step back and ask myself: “Well self, just what IS the FEC supposed to do?” I found that I could not articulate an answer.
Upon invetigatying, I think I overreacted a bit.
From Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Election_Commission )
Official duties
Although the Commission's name implies broad authority over U.S. elections, in fact its role is limited to the administration of federal campaign finance laws. It enforces limitations and prohibitions on contributions and expenditures, investigates and prosecutes violations (investigations are typically initiated by complaints from other candidates, parties, “watchdog groups,” and the public), audits a limited number of campaigns and organizations for compliance, and administers the presidential campaign fund, which provides public funds to candidates for president and nominating conventions.
From the FEC website ( http://www.fec.gov/ans/answers.shtml )
What does the FEC do?
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency established in 1975 to administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). That statute limits the sources and amounts of the contributions used to finance federal elections, requires public disclosure of campaign finance information and—in tandem with the Primary Matching Payment Act and the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act—provides for the public funding of Presidential elections. For more information on the FEC’s role in regulating federal elections, see the brochure “The FEC and the Federal Campaign Finance Law.”
Please note that the rules governing elections for state or local offices and procedures for getting on the ballot for an election are outside of the purview of the FEC. You will want to contact the Secretary of State or appropriate election office in your state for more information. For a guide to state offices, please see our Combined Federal/State Disclosure and Election Directory.
and
How do I get my name on the ballot?
Contact the Secretary of State or appropriate election office in your state for more information. For a guide to state offices, please see our Combined Federal/State Disclosure and Election Directory or visit our Compliance Map. You may also want to consult our list of ballot deadlines for Congressional candidates.
So, I still think we have a failure at the state level to establish a legal basis of eligibility verification. But, I'm now inclined to think that the FEC is not and probably should not be a part of it. As far as fraud issues should an inelligible candidate solicit monies, I'd need to think of that a bit.
Yep. It’s not the FEC’s job to certify the Constitutional eligibility of candidates. The problem is it’s nobody’s job, legally speaking. The Secretaries of State can make arbitrary decisions to exclude a candidate from the ballots, the electoral college can refuse to vote for a candidate and Congress can object to the certification of the electoral college vote, but there are no laws requiring anyone to do anything. That’s a problem.
It’s the judiciary’s responsibility to interpret the Constitution. So unless they clearly define “natural born Citizen,” a candidate can sue for being refused by the FEC or arbitrarily excluded from the ballot by a state.
It’s messed up.