Constitution of the Young Democrats of Utah
Adopted: November 15, 2003
Last Amended: December 12, 2009
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 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: YDU will be composed of the Young Democrats Executive Board, Oversight Committee, and the remaining members.
Section 3: 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 eleven (11) members, ten (10) of which will be voting members. The voting members shall be the YDU President, Vice- President, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Director, National Committeewoman, National Committeeman, the three (3) Caucus Chairs, and the three (3) Caucus Vice-Chairs.
Section 2: The one (1) non-voting member will be the Executive Director is appointed and chosen by the Executive Board for the purpose of assisting in the functions of YDU.
Section 3: 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 4: Each of the three YDU caucuses shall elect from among their membership a Chair and a Vice-Chair to serve on the Executive Board. The Caucus Chair, in addition to a representative chosen at the Caucus’ governing body’s discretion, shall fulfill the Caucus’ Oversight Committee positions.
Section 5: The President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Director, National Committeewoman and the National Committeeman shall not concurrently serve as a Caucus Chair.
Section 6: Job Descriptions and Duties of each office shall be as follows:
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
- Works with Secretary to develop copy for YDU quarterly newsletter
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 Demopolis and communicate with YDU member
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
- Helps Vice President develop copy for newsletter
- Maintains charter of YDU with YDA
Treasurer –
- Maintains record of all donations and expenditures to YDU
- Balances the budget and gives quarterly budget reports to Executive Board
- Writes checks for YDU expenses
- Works with Executive Director and President on fundraising efforts
National Committeeman & National Committeewoman –
- Represents YDU on a national level
- Develops relationships with neighboring states and regions
- Attends the Young Democrats of America national meetings
- Reports on the progress of YDU
- 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
- Oversees production of all 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
- Works with Executive Director to develop advertisements for YDU activities
- Produces layout and production of YDU newsletter
Section 7: All Executive Board members are required to attend 80% of YDU Board meetings and other YDU activities, unless previous arrangements are made with the President, Vice-President, and/or Executive Director. Attendance will be recorded by the YDU Secretary. 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 Young Democrats of America 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
Oversight Committee
The YDU Executive Oversight Committee will be the chief policy making body for the organization.
Section 1: The Oversight Committee shall be composed of seventeen (17) members, sixteen (16) of which will be voting members. They shall be; State Executive Committee Member, YDU President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Director, National Committeeman, National Committeewoman, the three (3) Caucus Chairs, the three (3) Caucus 1st Vice-Chairs, and two (2) At-Large Representatives.
Section 2: The one (1) non-voting member will be the Executive Director.
Section 3: The Oversight Committee will have all the powers necessary for the proper and legal execution of all duties of YDU.
Section 4: The Oversight Committee shall meet at their discretion whenever constitutional or policy issues arise.
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 January.
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 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 first two year term at the 2008 Convention. The National Committeewoman will be elected to her first two year term at the 2009 Convention.
ARTICLE VIII
Constitutional Amendments
Section 1: Amendments to this constitution must be submitted in writing to the President and Executive Director 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.
Section 2: If the Executive Board fails to pass a proposed amendment, any member of the General Body may propose identical amendment during the following meeting of the general body. This amendment must be approved by ¾ of the general body (in attendance) in order to override the decision of the Executive Board.
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 Oversight Committee meeting in which the impeachment will be discussed.
C. Members of the Oversight Committee 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 Oversight Committee on the appropriate course of action.
E. A two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Oversight Committee 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 Oversight Committee 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.
