Illegal and Corrupt Practices in Elections

Report Outline
The Newberry Case and the 17Th Amendment
Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1925
Corrupt Practices Acts of the States
Maximum Expenditures in States Electing Senators
Senate Efforts to Regulate Primary Expenditures
Invalidation of Elections by the Senate

The political campaigns leading up to the congressional and senatorial elections of November 2 will be the first to be governed by the new federal corrupt practices act of 1925. This legislation - attached in the Senate as a rider on the postal salary increase bill, signed by President Coolidge, February 28, 1925 - attracted little public attention at the time it became law and it is probable that many candidates are unaware of its existence.

The new act is a substitute for the federal corrupt practices act of 1910, which was invalidated in part by the Supreme Court's decision in the Newberry case, and for all other similar legislation previously enacted by Congress. It provides for:

Publicity of campaign contributions and expenditures: In the form of public reports by candidates and political committees both before and after the election.