Constitution of the Young Democrats of Utah

Adopted: November 15, 2003

Last Amended: December 2, 2006

***Edited January 15, 2011 by the Executive Board. Amendments NOT yet passed.***

PREAMBLE

We, the Young Democrats of Utah, hereby dedicate ourselves to organizing young people in order to promote their interest and involvement in the political process and the Democratic Party. We strive to better our state and to promote the principles of equality, opportunity, social justice, and freedom within our society. As Democrats, we aim to promote the principles of our platform. For these ends and upon these principles, we, the Young Democrats of Utah, do hereby associate ourselves and adopt this Constitution.

ARTICLE I

Name

The name of this organization will be the Young Democrats of Utah, hereinafter YDU.

Section 1: YDU shall affiliate with the Young Democrats of America, here after known as YDA, and the Utah State Democratic Committee.

Section 2: YDU shall be composed of three caucuses: the High School Democrats of

Utah, College Democrats of Utah, and the Young Professional Democrats of Utah

ARTICLE II

Membership

Section 1: Membership in YDU shall be open to residents of the State of Utah who have

not yet attained 36 years of age and desire to advance the platform of the Young

Democrats of Utah.

Section 2: To be a voting member you must be a minimum of 14 years of age and not attained 36 years of age

Section 3: YDU will be composed of the Young Democrats Executive Board and the remaining members.

Section 4: YDU does not exclude on the basis of race, color, creed, ethnic identity,

national origin, religion, economic statues, gender, sexual orientation or ability.

ARTICLE III

Executive Board

Section 1: The Executive Board shall consist of fifteen (15) voting members: President, Vice President, Communication Director, Secretary, Treasurer, National Committeewoman, National Committeeman, Young Professional Chair, one (1) Young Professional Vice Chair, College Chair, one (1) College Vice Chair, High School Chair, one (1) High School Vice Chair, Rural Chair, one (1) Rural Vice Chair

Section 2: Quorum to hold an official vote of the YDU Board shall be eight (8) voting members. If there is not a majority vote one way or the other, the motion will fail

Section 3: All official business of YDU will follow Robert’s Rules.

Section 4: The Executive Director will be appointed by the YDU Executive Board at the discretion of the Executive Board for the purpose of assisting in the functions of YDU. If the Executive Board decides to appoint an Executive Director, the appointee will be the one (1) non-voting member.

Section 5: The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications

Director, National Committeewoman, and National Committeeman shall be elected from

among the general body of the YDU.

Section 6: Each of the four YDU caucuses shall elect from among their membership a Chair and one Vice Chair to serve on the Executive Board. The Caucus Chair, in addition to a representative chose at the Caucus’ governing body’s discretion, shall fulfill the Caucus’ Oversight Committee positions.

Section 7: The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, National Committeewoman and the National Committeeman shall not concurrently serve as a Caucus Chair or Caucus Vice Chair.

Section 8: Job Descriptions and Duties of each office shall be as follows:

Every Executive Board member shall raise funds for the sustainability and development for the Young Democrats of Utah under the direction of the President

Every Executive Board member shall contribute at least twice a year to the quarterly YDU newsletter.

President

· Speaks for organization

· Provides direction, theme, and message

· Establishes yearly goals

· Networks and builds relationships with other organizations and individuals

· Provides motivation, assistance, and guidance to all members, specifically the Executive Board

· Keeps Executive Board accountable in their positional duties

· Manages, develops, and works on recruitment strategies

· Works with Executive Director and Treasurer on fundraising efforts

· Acts as liaison between YDU and Utah State Democratic Party

Vice President

· Assists President and Executive Director as needed

· Fills role of President when he/she is unavailable

· Works with Caucus Chairs in achieving the goals of each caucus

· Keeps Caucus Chairs accountable for their goals and duties

· Assists and provides coordination between YDU Board and the caucuses

· Assists in setting the goals and carrying out action plans of YDU

· Oversees production and works with President, Executive Director, Secretary, and Caucus Chairs to develop the YDU quarterly newsletter

· Shall work with the Communication Director to create and distribute a quarterly newsletter

· Shall fulfill duties as described in Article VII, Seciton 1.

Executive Director

· Day to day manager of YDU

· Works with President to direct meetings

· Conducts and coordinates event planning

· Oversees planning and development of YDU activities

· Delegates and assigns task/duties for YDU activities

· Aids in recruitment and chapter/caucus building efforts

· Conducts fundraising with President and Treasurer

· Coordinates and manages YDU campaign activities

· Works with Secretary to maintain membership list and communicate with YDU members

· If there is no Executive Director, the President is responsible for overseeing that these duties are fulfilled

Secretary

· Keeps records and minutes of all meetings and functions of YDU

· Emails meeting minutes to all board members within 48 hours of every meeting

· Maintains and keeps current the contact list and database of all YDU members

· Works with the Caucus Chairs to organize contact lists and maintain charters for each chapter

· Works with Executive Director to manage all emails and correspondence to YDU members

· Maintains charter of YDU with YDA

· Shall fulfill duties as described in Article VII, Seciton 2.

Treasurer

· Maintains record of all donations and expenditures to YDU

· Balances the budget and gives quarterly budget reports to Executive Board

· Serve as Chair of the Finance Committee

· Writes checks for YDU expenses

· Works with Executive Director and President on fundraising efforts

National Committeeman & National Committeewoman

· Represents YDU on a national level

· Provides Executive Board with quarterly updates on YDA

· Relays information from YDA to YDU

· Reports on the progress of YDU to YDA

· Develops relationships with neighboring states and regions

· Attends the Young Democrats of America national meetings

· Gathers ideas from other states and implements them in Utah

· Advocates for the growth of the Democratic Party within Utah

· Build coalitions with neighboring states and regions to increase the effort of the Young Democrats

· Must attend 50% of all YDA national meetings unless arrangements are made and agreed upon by the YDU Board.

Caucus Chairs (High School, College, and Young Professionals)

· Represents caucus members on YDU board

· Acts as a liaison between YDU Board and local respective caucus chapters

· Oversees outreach and recruitment strategies/efforts for the caucus

· Assists local caucus chapters with recruitment and membership efforts

· Reports to Executive Board of progress within local chapters

Communications Director

· Develops all advertisements for YDU and YDU activities

· Designs flyers, posters, and YDU literature

· Maintains branding scheme while developing t-shirts, buttons, and other promotional goods and advertisements

· Develops, maintains, and keeps the YDU website current

· Works with Secretary to develop press releases and other press related activities, including radio, television, and print media

· Distributes all press materials to the media

· Produces layout and production of YDU newsletter with the Vice President

Section 7: All Executive Board members are required to attend 80% of YDU Board

meetings unless previous arrangements are made with the President, Vice-President,

and/or Executive Director. Failure to meet this requirement will result in forfeiture of the

violating member’s position. The decision for termination will be determined by the

other members of the Executive Board and the said position will be notified in writing.

ARTICLE IV

Executive Director

Section 1: The Executive Board shall appoint an Executive Director at least once a year. All renewed appointments must occur in the spring quarter.

Section 2: The YDA must approve the Executive Director appointment if he/she is part of a YDA Partnership Program.

Section 3: The Executive Director is considered an at-will position and may be terminated by the Executive Board at any time.

Section 4: Termination of the Executive Director requires a two-thirds (2/3) vote by the Executive Board.

Article V

Finance Committee

This committee will be responsible for overseeing and sustaining the financial wellbeing and future of YDU.

Finance Committee shall consist of the President, Vice President, and Treasurer. If the Executive Board has elected to appoint an Executive Director, then the appointee will also serve on this committee.

ARTICLE VI

General Body

The YDU General Body will meet no less than four (4) times during the course of one (1) year.

Section 1: The YDU President shall put forth an annual agenda to be approved by the board which facilitates the goals of the organization. The Agenda is to be approved no later than the last week in May.

Section 2: The Executive Board will release a quarterly electronic newsletter updating the General Body with activities, goals, information, etc via email and/or website.

ARTICLE VII

Elections and Term Lengths

Section 1: Election of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Director, National Committeeman, and the National Committeewoman shall take place at a yearly Fall Convention. Caucus chairs and Vice Chairs will be elected at the discretion of the individual caucus at the same convention.

Section 2: President, National Committeeman, and National Committeewoman will serve two year terms, The Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Director and Caucus Chairs will each serve one-year terms.

Section 3: The President and National Committeeman shall be elected to their two-year term at the Convention every odd year. The National committeewoman will be elected to her two-year term at Convention every even year.

Section 4: Time, Place

A State Convention shall be held each year between March and May. State convention must be held in a county outside of Salt Lake at least once every three years. Local chapters should submit convention site bids for hosting State Convention. The Executive Board shall select from bids submitted, the time and place of the State Convention. The Vice-President will be responsible for establishing bid process and selection criteria.

Section 5: Notice of Convention

The Secretary shall cause notice of the convention Time and Place to be distributed to the current listed membership and officers of the Young Democrats of Utah, the officers of all chartered subunits, the Chair and Executive Director of the Utah Democratic Party, and the President and Executive Director of the Young Democrats of America. Such notice must be sent no less than 30 days prior to the call to order of the State Convention, and should contain:

· The location, time and date of the State Convention

· A list of offices to be elected at the convention

Section 6: Candidacy

· Meet requirements of YDU

· Does not need to be present at convention to be placed on ballot

· Nominations for an elected YDU Officer position must be submitted to the Vice President of the YDU Executive Board at least Twenty-Four (24) hours prior to convention in order to establish the candidate’s eligibility.

Section 7: Voting

· Candidates may address General Assembly for no more than three (3) minutes just prior to the vote for their YDU Officer position.

· Any person meeting the requirements of YDU in the affirmative shall be a member of the Young Democrats of Utah General Assembly and are eligible to vote.

· Voting will be done by open ballot

· Ballots will be counted by committee established by the YDU Executive Board

ARTICLE VIII

Constitutional Amendments

Amendments to this constitution must be submitted in writing to the President at least two weeks (14 days) prior to the general body meeting at which the amendment will be considered. The President is obligated to place the amendment on the agenda for that meeting. The amendment will be considered approved if two-thirds (2/3) of the Executive Board and two-thirds (2/3) of the general body (in attendance) vote in favor of the amendment.

ARTICLE IX

Impeachment

Section 1: Procedures for impeachment will be as follows:

A. Any person holding an elected office within YDU may be impeached if found guilty of failure to adequately perform his/her duties.

B. The person shall be notified in writing of the charges against them no less than fifteen days (15) prior to the Executive Board meeting in which the impeachment will be discussed.

C. Members of the Executive Board who are not charged with negligence of their duties shall appoint a committee and chairperson to hear the testimony of the person or persons charged.

D. Said committee shall make a recommendation to the Executive Board on the appropriate course of action.

E. A two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Executive Board shall be necessary to remove an individual from office.

Section 2: The Executive Board reserves the right to remove anyone from an appointed position. Procedures for removal will be as follows:

A. Any person holding an appointed office within YDU may be removed if found guilty of failure to adequately perform his/her duties.

B. The person shall be notified in writing of the charges against them no less than fifteen days (15) prior to the Executive Board meeting in which the impeachment will be discussed.

C. Members of the Executive Board shall appoint a committee and chairperson to hear the testimony of the person or persons charged.

D. Said committee shall make a recommendation to the Executive Board on the appropriate course of action and the Executive Board will act as they see fit.

Section 3: Caucus Chairs shall be impeached and subsequently removed from the Executive Board at the discretion of their individual caucuses.