Genesee County Democratic Committee Bylaws

Rules of the Genesee County Democratic Committee

In accordance with all applicable provisions of the NYS Election Law, the Democratic County Committee of Genesee County, State of New York, does hereby constitute the following rules governing the Democratic Party in said County:

ARTICLE I:

The name of the committee is The Genesee County Democratic Committee hereinafter shall be referred to as the Committee, the Party or the County Committee.

ARTICLE II: STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

The purpose of the Genesee County Democratic Committee is many fold. Primarily its purpose is to seek out and support credible candidates for elected offices throughout the county and help in their election. However, an equally important focus of the Committee is to continue to support those Democratic Party candidates who are elected to any office in Genesee County. In order to carry out the above proposed, several other important objectives must be implemented.

The Party must also develop a plan to seek out and welcome new members who move into the county.
The Party must develop and maintain communications between the local Parties and the county organization. It must strive to promote countywide unity between it and the local units and between the local Parties themselves.
In order to ensure the financial viability of the County Committee and to be able to provide ongoing financial assistance to candidates, the County Committee must develop a yearlong fundraising mechanism.
The County Committee must develop a positive working relationship with the local news media.

It is not enough merely to recognize these objectives; the Committee must also develop and implement a structure designed to promote and fulfill them. Also, everyone who is elected to the County Committee must be determined to do what they can to assist in achieving these goals. This must be recognized to be a continuing commitment, as these objectives will need to be a yearly commitment for all County Committee members. This is a mission that has no end, it is only a beginning.

ARTICLE III: MEMBERSHIP

Section I.

The County Committee shall consist of two members of such committee from each election district in said county to be elected biannually by a majority vote of the Democratic voters of each respective election district, AS SPECIFIED BY NYS Election Law [1];

A. ELECTION AND TERM OF OFFICE:

Members of the Democratic Committee shall be elected in each odd numbered year as outlined by NYS Election Law (2-106). Dates during which signatures can be collected and the deadline for petition submission can be found out from the County Election Office. Petitions can list 1 or 2 names for a single election district. Petitions must collect signatures from 5% of the registered Democrats in that district. Only registered Democrats can sign the petitions. A person can sign one of their own petition forms as long as someone else signs as a witness a t the bottom of the petition. A Democrat in a town can either only sign 1 petition with 2 names or 2 petitions with 1 name within that town. A sample petition is made available as an attachment to these rules. If only 1 or 2 people have valid petitions submitted for a given election district, then those people will become committee members as of the date of the primary. If more than 2 people have valid petitions submitted for a given election district, then a primary election is held for that election district. The top 2 vote getters become committee members as of the date of the primary. This is with the exception that such towns, or wards of the City of Batavia, as may have one election district shall be entitled to four members of such committee to be elected from said towns or wards of the City of Batavia. Members shall hold office for two years. Each member of the County Committee shall be an enrolled voter of the Democratic Party residing in Genesee County and the 139 th Assembly District from which or in the Assembly District in which such member is elected.

Section II.

Any vacancy which may occur in the offices of the County Committee by reason of death, resignation, o r otherwise, shall be filled at a regular meeting of the Genesee County Committee by a majority vote of those members present. In the event of a vacancy in the office of Chair or Treasurer, such duties will devolve upon the Vice-Chair or a special election called by the Chair.

Section III.

In accordance with NYS Election Law, (2-112) officers need not be members of local committees.

Section IV.

When a candidate, referendum, or policy is endorsed by a majority of the Democratic Committee at an announced County Committee meeting, it is expected that said Committee members will not willingly and publicly support oppositional policies or publicly support another party’s candidate.

A. Taking a public position against a candidate, referendum, or policy may include the following, but is not limited to: a public endorsement of another party’s candidate in local media, displaying of another party’s yard sign, sending a letter of public endorsement on campaign literature or mailer.
B. Under the discretion of the Executive Committee, if an allegation of an infraction of this policy is brought to the attention of the Committee it may result in expulsion from the Committee and/or loss of funding if you are an official candidate.
C. Committee members shall not be disciplined for working for non-endorsed candidates of the Democratic Party during a primary election.

1. REMOVING A COMMITTEE MEMBER

The Executive Committee (or Democratic Committee if there is no Executive Committee) shall be and is hereby vested with the power in its discretion, to remove any member of the Democratic Committee for the reason specified in Section 2-116 of the NYS Election Law and with the power, in its discretion, to appoint a subcommittee to hear the charges and report its findings to the Committee. Any member of the Democratic Committee sought to be removed pursuant to this Article shall have the right to appear with counsel and be heard by such subcommittee.

Removal of member or officer of a party committee shall be in accordance with Section 2-116 [2] of the Election Law of the State of New York, which provides as follows:

A member or officer of a party committee may be removed by such committee for disloyalty to the party or corruption in office after notice is given and a hearing upon written charges have been had. The hearing shall be held by the committee or a subcommittee thereof appointed for that purpose which subcommittee shall report its findings to the full Committee. Removal of a committee member for disloyalty should only be taken under extraordinary circumstances.

ARTICLE IV: ORGANIZATION AND OFFICERS

Section I. Re-organization and Election of Officers

A. Pursuant to NYS Election Law, the County Committee shall meet to reorganize.
B. Town Committees are a subsidiary of the County Committee and will reorganize, in the odd year after committee petitions, any time after the Primary, but before January 1st of the next calendar year.
C. Town Committees will file their reorganization with the Chair of the County Committee.

Section II.

The committee shall meet pursuant to NYS Election law and organize by electing the following:

A. Chair, whose duties are:

Preside at all meetings of the County Committee.
Appoint Standing and Ad Hoc committees as needed.
Be an ex-officio member of all committees.
Authorized to sign with the bank.
Appoint to fill vacancies.
Designate chair for standing and Ad Hoc committees.
Referred to as County Chair in by-laws.

B. Vice-Chair, whose duties are:

Perform the duties of the Chair whenever required. Assist the Chair as necessary.

C. Second Vice-Chair, whose duties are:

Assist Treasurer.
Assist with Finance.
Assist with Fundraising.
If the Treasurer resigns unexpectedly, the second Vice Chair assumes lead in search for new Treasurer.
Authorized to sign with the bank.

D. Secretary, whose duties are:

Record the proceedings of all business meetings.
Read the minutes at each business meeting.
Be the Committee’s archivist. Collect any historical information, maintain a history of the Committee in Google Docs or on another cloud-based platform as decided by the Executive Committee, send and receive all correspondences of the County Committee.

E. Treasurer, whose duties are:

Make a financial report at each business meeting; listing balance, expenditures, and income.
Receive all party funds and deposit the same in bank account.
Make the books available for audit as required.
File timely periodical reports as required by NYS election law outlined on the NYS Board of Elections Campaign Finance website[3].
Treasurer shall be authorized to sign with the bank.
Oversee payment of approved expenditures.
Treasurer shall be a paid position, $400/year to be paid quarterly for on time Reports
The treasurer shall also be available to mentor as requested treasurers of town committees.

F. Parliamentarian whose duties are:

Maintain order and security at the direction of the chair.
Use most current edition of Robert’s Rules as a guide [4].

Section III:

Standing Committees should have regularly scheduled meetings, may opt to communicate electronically, including voting.

A. Executive Committee

1. The Executive Committee shall be made up of officers of the County Committee, the Chair of each town/city committee, and leader of the Genesee County Young Democrats; when town/city or Young Democrats committee leader cannot attend vice chair of that committee shall attend; in the event neither can attend the chairperson/head of said committee may appoint a stand in who may vote on their behalf.

2. The Executive Committee shall meet either every other month or by call of the Chair or by the request of 5 members of the Committee.

3. Quorum is half plus one of the members of the Executive Committee.

4. Duties include:

a. The Committee must forward all proposed amendments to the County Committee with a recommendation, positive or negative.
b. Proposed amendment is then voted on at the next County Committee business meeting.
c. Make recommendations for development of long term goals and objectives.
d. Serve as financial auditing body.
e. Make recommendations, advise and help setup necessary committees to promote the Democratic County Committee and its Candidates.
f. Serve as committee to fill vacancies for local candidates if requested.
g. Shall have discretionary funds of $300 per year to be used for party building. Expenditures after that shall go through the finance committee for approval. When funds are used all bills and receipts will be turned into the treasurer right away.
h. County Committee Secretary will take minutes for the Executive Committee.

5. The Executive Committee shall act on behalf of the Full Committee between Full Committee meetings, and in the event of a natural disaster or similar declaration by the government and any action of the Executive Committee may be overruled by the Full Committee.

B. Fundraising Committee

1. The Fundraising Committee shall consist of 3 or 5 members appointed by the County Chair.

2. The purpose of the Fundraising Committee is to oversee fundraising activities for the County Committee.

3. The Fundraising Committee’s responsibility shall include, but not limited to;

a. Fundraising events.
b. Schedule and organize annual events (summer picnics etc.).
c. Create, schedule and organize fundraising events as necessary or requested.
d. Make a report to the County Committee after each event.
e. Turn in all bills and receipts to the County Treasurer.

4. Contributions

a. Maintain a database of contributors.
b. Database shall include, name, address, phone number, email address and contribution history, check number, amount, date of contribution in accordance with NYS Election Law and accepted general accounting practices.

C. Communications Committee

1. The Communications Committee shall consist of 3 or 5 members of the County Committee appointed by the County Chair.

2. The Communications Committee shall; send a letter welcoming new registered Democrats to Genesee County and an invitation to become involved.

3. Act as source of information for the media and/or the public concerning elected Democrats, candidates and events.

4. Develop new ideas and means to promote the Democratic Committee.

5. Send a letter from the Chair of the Party thanking all candidates.

6. Develop and manage social media presence.

D. Finance Committee

1. The Finance Committee shall consist of 3 or 5 members of the County Committee appointed by the County Chair

2. It shall be the duty of the Finance Committee to receive and review all requests of expenditures and report approval or disapproval to the Executive Committee with reason.

3. Candidates receiving funds must be endorsed by the County Committee.

a. Any endorsed candidate, who is not a Democrat, will not be eligible to receive funds.

4. Shall audit the books of the County Committee on an annual basis

E. Campaign Committee

1. The Campaign Committee shall consist of 3 or 5 members of the County Committee appointed by the County Chair.

2. Purpose – To organize the assistance given to an endorsed candidate by the County Committee.

3. The Campaign Committee, through the Finance Committee, will control and budget the money given to an endorsed candidate each election cycle.

a. Candidates will NOT receive a funding check.

b. Within the budgeted allocation, the County Committee will pay for the following directly; literature, signs, advertisement, and other approved Expenditures.

4. The Chair of the Campaign Committee will have the following duties:

a. Be a point of contact for any aspiring Democratic candidate, advising them concerning proper election procedures and how to become endorsed by the County Committee.

b. Will present all prospective candidate’s names to the Campaign Committee for referral to the County Committee.

c. With County Committee assistance, will help candidate make decisions on funding allocations.

d. Will meet regularly with all endorsed candidates

e. Establish a registry of Democrats in the election district a candidate is running in for persuasion and support.

f. Create a database of supporters that agree to host lawn signs.

g. Establish a phone bank to help a candidate get message to the voters.

h. Guide candidate in door to door canvassing.

i. Create a system on election day for rides to the polling sites.

j. Request funds from the Finance Committee.

5. The Campaign Committee and the County Committee will assist the Campaign Chair in carrying out his/her duties.

6. The Campaign Committee will organize and direct petition campaigns for candidates in local, state and federal offices as needed.

F. By-Laws Committee

1. The By-Laws committee shall be composed of 3 or 5 members of the County Committee appointed by the County Chair.

2. Any suggested By-Laws amendments shall be submitted to this committee for study and recommendations.

3. The By-Laws Committee shall make any recommendations to the Executive Committee for each amendment submitted.

4. The author of the suggested amendment has the right to appear before the County Committee and bring the proposed amendment personally to the Executive Committee.

5. The By-Laws Committee must forward each proposed amendment with a recommendation, positive or negative.

SECTION III

Ten (10) members of the County Committee shall be necessary to constitute a quorum at any meeting.

SECTION IV

1. The meetings of the County Committee shall be held at such times and places as may be named by law, designated by a resolution of the County Committee, or at the call of the Chair.

2. The County Committee shall meet quarterly for business, to include meetings for petitions and one for reorganization as outlined by NYS Election Law on the Board of Elections Website. Any other meetings (such as endorsements and petitions for Congressional candidates, endorsements for state senate and assembly, endorsements of gubernatorial candidates) may be called at the discretion of the Chair with a 10-day notice, or by a quorum of ten members.

3. A meeting of the County Committee shall be called only by notice, either by post card or email sent to the member’s place of residence or to the email address provided by the member to the Secretary. A phone call can also serve as notice.

4. The County Committee may from time to time consider expenditures that are not outlined above.

SECTION V

Any vacancy which may occur on the County Committee shall be filled by the appointment of the County Chair and a majority vote of the members present upon the recommendation of the committee chair from the town or district where a vacancy exists.

All resignations from the County Committee must be filed in writing with the County Committee Secretary.

SECTION VI

The agenda of each meeting shall include, but not limited to the following;

1. Call to order

2. Pledge of Allegiance

3. Reading of Minutes or Dispensing of minutes

4. Treasurer’s report

5. Correspondences

6. Old Business

7. New Business

8. Membership comments

9. Adjournment

SECTION VII AMENDMENTS

Section I

The by-laws of the County Committee may be amended by a majority vote of the members present at any general Genesee County Democratic Committee meeting, a quorum must be present, once the below procedures have been followed.

Section II

1. Anyone submitting a proposed amendment must first submit it to the Chair of the By-Laws Committee with a copy to the Secretary of the County Committee.

2. The submitter has the right to appear before the By-Laws Committee to explain and defend the proposed amendment.

Section III

1. Any amendment presented to the Secretary of the County Committee by letter, and to the By-Laws Committee, must be presented to the next regularly scheduled meeting of the County Committee and be acted upon.

A motion and a second is necessary to introduce the amendment for consideration.

[1] https://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/download/law/2016NYElectionLaw.pdf

[2] https://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/download/law/2016NYElectionLaw.pdf

[3] Campaign Finance | New York State Board of Elections

[4] Robert's Rules of Order Online - Parliamentary Procedure and Parliamentarians - RulesOnline.com

Appendix

1-“ § 2–106. State and county committees; election of members 1. Members of the state and county committees shall be elected at the primary election as herein provided.

2. Members of the state committee shall be elected biennially. 3. Members of county committees shall be elected biennially, except that to effect a transition from either odd to even or even to odd number year elections, a county committee may provide by an amendment to its rules filed with the board of elections a t least four months before the date of the primary election at which the two year term of such committee is expiring, that the committee elected at such election shall be 12 PARTY ORGANIZATION §

2–110 elected for a single, interim one-year term for members of such committee. No committee may affect such a change in the year of election more than once every ten years.

4. M embers shall hold office until the next election at which members of the committee are elected. ( L.1976, c. 233, § 1. Amended L.1978, c. 9, § 6; L.1979, c. 156, § 1; “

2- “ § 2–112. Committees; organization 1. Every state committee shall within fifteen days after its election, every county committee shall within twenty days after its election, and all other committees shall within the time specified by party rules, meet and organize by electing a chairman, a secretary, a treasurer and such other officers as they may by their rules provide. Within three days after their meetings all state and county committees shall file in the office of the state board of elections a certificate stating the names and post office addresses o f such officers. County committees and any other committee contained therein shall file a copy of such statement with their county board of elections.

2. Such officers shall be enrolled members of the party, but need not be members of such committees.”