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RULE XI

VACANCIES

Section 1. Any vacancy or vacancies happening or existing on the Republican ticket for any office to be voted for by the electors of the State at large shall be filled by the State Committee, which shall have full authority to make and certify said nomination or nominations.

Sec. 2. In case any vacancy happens or exists on the Republican ticket in any Congressional, Senatorial or Judicial district composed of more than one county, such vacancy shall be filled by conferees selected by the county committees of the respective counties, or their duly accredited representatives, representing the district in which said vacancy occurs, and each county, in the district, shall be entitled to at least one conferee. In counties containing more than one thousand votes for the nominee of the Republican Party for President at the last preceding Presidential election an additional conferee shall be chosen for each additional thousand votes. The meeting of the conferees shall be held at such time and place as shall be fixed by the Chairman of the State Committee. Should said conferees be unable to agree within ten days after the representative Republicans from each county in the district have met as aforesaid, the Chairman of the Republican State Committee shall select a representative Republican residing in the district, who shall act as umpire or referee in making a nomination.

RULE XII

COUNTY COMMITTEES

Section 1. The County Committees are hereby authorized and empowered to make such rules to be operative in their respective counties for the selection and organization of the members thereof and to fill vacancies within their respective districts not inconsistent with these rules and the law as shall be necessary for their government and the promotion of the interest of the party.

RULE XIII

AMENDMENTS TO RULES

Section 1. The foregoing rules may be altered or amended from time to time by a two-thirds vote in the affirmative of the

members of the State Committee present at a meeting of the same; provided that ten days' notice shall be given each member of any proposed alteration or amendment to said rules.

Sec. 2. Any rule or rules may be suspended at or during any meeting of the State Committee by the affirmative vote of ninetenths of the members present.

Sec. 3. These rules shall go into effect immediately upon their adoption by the State Committee when all former rules shall be superseded and repealed.

54. The Minnesota Corrupt Practices Act

It is obvious that a popular election may yield the opposite of a real popular choice unless measures are taken to prevent unfair, corrupt, and fraudulent practices. For this reason, the legislatures of most of the states have taken steps to curb the more reprehensible of these practices. Just what constitutes a "corrupt practice" has long been a matter of dispute, and it is not surprising to find considerable variation in the laws of different states. An act which is considered perfectly legal in one state may be punished by a heavy fine or imprisonment in another.

Speaking broadly, corrupt practice laws fall into two classes. Those in the first class seek to protect the electoral process itself from such abuses as repeating, personation, ballot-box stuffing, fraudulent counting, and intimidation of the voters. Registration requirements, provisions for bi-partisan election boards, and laws prescribing use of the Australian ballot may be cited as examples of this type. Many of the states have gone further and have attempted to protect the campaign from practices that would tend to give one of the contestants a disproportionate influence over the voters. It is this second type of legislation which is usually termed the "corrupt practices act." It frequently aims to control the sources of revenue for the campaign by prohibiting or limiting certain kinds of contributions and by requiring publicity of the amounts collected and expended by each contestant or party. There

is usually some provision for controlling the expenditures by prohibiting payments for certain purposes, and by placing a limit on the total amount that may be spent for campaign purposes.

The following provisions of the Minnesota Corrupt Practices Act illustrate each of these features. Although the measure is poorly drawn in several respects, it covers more ground and is stricter than similar laws found in most of the other states. For these reasons, it will repay careful study.

SOURCE-General Laws of the State of Minnesota, 1912 (Minneapolis, 1912), Chap. 3, sects. 1-41, pp. 23-40; Harvey, Hulbert (comp.), General Statutes of Minnesota, 1923 (St. Paul, 1924), sects. 538-573, pp. 78-83; Tiffany, F. B. (comp.), General Statutes of Minnesota, 1913 (St. Paul, 1913), sects. 567-609, pp. 128-138; Hilton, C. L. (comp.), Minnesota Election Laws, 1924 (St. Paul, 1924), 135-150.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota: SECTION 1. No candidate for the nomination or election to any elective office in this state coming within the provisions of this act shall directly or indirectly pay, expend or contribute any money or other valuable thing, or promise to do so, except for the following purposes, which are hereby declared to be legal expenses.

(1) For the candidates' necessary personal traveling expenses; for postage, telegraph, telephone, or other public messenger service.

(2) For rent and necessary furnishing of hall or room during such candidacy, for the delivery of speeches, relative to principles or candidates.

(3) For payment of speakers and musicians at public meetings, and their necessary traveling expenses.

(4) Printing and distribution of list of candidates, sample ballots, pamphlets, newspapers, circulars, cards, hand bills, posters and announcements relative to candidates, or public issue or principles.

(5) For copying and classifying poll lists, for making canvasses of voters and for challengers at the polls.

(6) For filing fees to the proper public officer, and if nominated at any primary for contributions to the party committee.

(7) For campaign advertising in newspapers, periodicals, or magazines pursuant to the provisions of section 2.

SEC. 2. No publisher of a newspaper, periodical or magazine shall insert either in the advertising columns of such newspaper, magazine or periodical, or elsewhere therein any matter paid or to be paid for which is intended or tends to influence directly or indirectly any voting at any primary or general election unless at the head of said matter is printed in pica capital letters the words "Paid Advertisement," and unless there is also a statement at the head of said matter of the amount paid or to be paid therefor, the name and address of the candidate in whose behalf the matter is inserted and of any other person, if any, authorizing the publication and the name of the author thereof. No publisher of any newspaper, periodical or magazine published within this state shall insert therein either in the advertising column of such newspaper, magazine, periodical, or elsewhere therein, any matter whatsoever of a political nature, or any political editorial relative to a candidate for any public office, unless the publisher thereof shall file in the office of the secretary of state of this state within six months before the holding of any primary or general election, or within ten days after the calling of and before the holding of any special election, a sworn statement which shall contain the names of the owners of such paper, and if such paper be a corporation, the names and addresses of the owners of the shares of stock of such corporation.

SEC. 3. Every candidate and every member of any personal campaign or party committee, who shall either in his own name or in the name of any other person, own any financial interest in any newspaper or periodical, circulating in part or in whole in Minnesota, shall, before such newspaper or periodical shall print any matter otherwise than as is provided in section 2, which is intended or tends to influence, directly or indirectly, any voting at any election or primary in this state, file in the office of the auditor of the county in which he resides a verified declaration, stating definitely the newspaper or periodical in which or over which he has such financial interest or control, and the exact nature and extent of such interest or control. . . .

SEC. 4. No owner, publisher, editor, reporter, agent or employe, of any newspaper or other periodical, shall, directly or indirectly, solicit, receive or accept any payment, promise or compensation, nor shall any person pay or promise to pay, in

any manner compensate any such owner, publisher, editor, reporter, agent or employe, directly or indirectly, for influencing or attempting to influence through any printing matter in such newspaper any voting at any election or primary through any means whatsoever, except through the matter inserted in such newspaper or periodical as "Paid Advertisement," and so designated as provided by this act.

SEC. 5. No disbursement shall be made and no obligation, express or implied, to make such disbursement, shall be incurred. by or on behalf of any candidate for any office under the constitution or laws of this state, or under the ordinance of any town or municipality of this state in his campaign for nomination and election, which shall be in the aggregate in excess of the amounts herein specified, namely:

1. For governor, seven thousand dollars.

2. For other state officers, thirty-five hundred dollars.

3.

For state senator, six hundred dollars.

4. For member of house of representatives, four hundred dollars.

5. For presidential elector-at-large, five hundred dollars, and for presidential elector for any congressional district, one hundred dollars.

6. For any county, city, village or town officer, for any judge or for any officer not hereinbefore mentioned, who, if nominated and elected, would receive a salary, a sum not exceeding one-third of the salary to which such person would, if elected, be entitled during the first year of his incumbency in such office. If such person, when nominated and elected, would not receive a salary, a sum not exceeding one-third of the compensation which his predecessor received during the first year of such predecessor's incumbency. If such an officer, when nominated and elected, would not receive a salary and if such officer had no predecessor, and in all cases not specifically provided for, one hundred dollars, and

no more.

SEC. 6. No person shall demand, solicit, ask or invite any payment or contribution of any religious, charitable or other causes or organization, supposedly to be primarily for the public good, from any candidate for nomination or election, or to subscribe for the support of any club, or organization, or to buy tickets to any entertainment or ball or to pay for space in any book, program, periodical or publication, nor shall such demand

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