Document:National Bylaws and Convention Rules 1981: Difference between revisions

Section 1. The officers of the Party shall be:

Section 2. No offices shall be combined.

Section 3. The officers shall be full voting members of the National Committee.

Section 4. The Chair shall preside at all conventions and all meetings of the National Committee. He or she shall be the chief executive officer of the Party.

Section 5. The Vice Chair shall act as an assistant to the Chair, and shall perform the duties of the Chair in the event the Chair is, for any reason, unable to perform the duties of his or her office.

Section 6. The Secretary shall be the recording officer of the Party.

Section 7. The Treasurer shall receive, expend and account for the funds of the Party under the supervision and direction of the Chair and National Committee.

Section 8. Except as otherwise provided herein, the officers of the Party shall have such powers and perform such duties as may be prescribed in the Bylaws.

Section 9. An officer may be suspended, that is, denied the authority to perform his or her specific functions, by a two­ thirds vote of the entire National Committee. The office of a suspended officer shall be declared vacant, unless the suspended officer appeals his or her suspension to the Judicial Committee within seven days of receipt of notice of suspension.  The National Committee shall appoint new officers if vacancies occur, such officers to complete the term of the office vacated.

Section 1. In addition to the responsibilities set forth in Articles IV, V, IX, X and XII, the Judicial Committee shall be responsible for the following:

 

a. Disciplinary actions against any Party member shall be in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, except as otherwise provided herein.

b. Challenges of adopted Party Planks believed by ten percent (10%) of the delegates to be in conflict with the Statement of Principles shall be referred in writing, during the Regular Convention, to the Judicial Committee by the delegates requesting action for consideration.  The challenge shall specify in what manner the Plank is believed to be in conflict.

The Judicial Committee shall consider the challenge, decide whether the Plank in question conforms to the Statement of Principles, and make a report, stating the justification for their decision, to the floor of the convention.

If the Plank is vetoed by the Judicial Committee, it will be declared null and void, but can be reinstated in the Platform by a three-fourths vote of the Regular Convention.

Section 1. The fiscal term of the Party shall begin on the first day of each calendar year.

Section 2. The National Committee shall cause an efficient double-entry system of accounts to be installed and maintained.

Section 3. All disbursements exceeding $20.00 shall be made solely by check.

Section 4. The National Committee shall have the power to designate the depository of all funds of the Party, and shall appoint such officers and employees as in its judgment may seem advisable to deposit and withdraw funds from said depository.

Section 1. The Party shall hold a Regular Convention every odd­ numbered year, at a time and place selected by the National Committee. Non-Regular Conventions may be held at the discre­ tion of the National Committee.

Section 2. Conventions held in odd-numbered years shall be designated Regular Conventions and held sometime during the period July through October of that year; those held in the even-numbered years shall be designated Non-Regular Conventions. All businesss required to be conducted at Regular Conventions shall be conducted at Regular Conventions only.

Section 3. At all Non-Regular Conventions, any person who wishes to attend may do so, and upon registering, any party member shall be a delegate.

Section 4. At all Regular Conventions, delegates shall be those so accredited who have registered at the Convention.

Section 5. Each affiliated party shall be entitled to send delegates to each Regular Convention on the following basis:

* one additional delegate from each affiliated party for each one quarter of one per cent (0.25%) (rounded) of the total national membership residing in that state, district or territory, as determined by the Secretary as of the last day of February of the Regular Convention year; plus

* one additional delegate from each affiliated party for each one per cent (1%) (rounded) of the total vote cast for President in that state or district which was received by the Party's most recent candidate for President.

In addition, the following persons shall automatically be entitled to delegate status: national officers, National Committee members, and all former Party nominees for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the United States, plus each state governor, U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator who is a Party member and not affiliated with any other party.

Section 6. In order to be counted for delegate allocation, membership applications must be sent to the National Headquarters by either the individual member or affiliated party and received or postmarked no later than the last day of February of the Regular Convention year. The Secretary shall make a count of members qualified under the requirements set forth here, and shall compute the delegate allocations for the affiliated parties. Notification of the membership totals and allocation totals shall be sent by the Secretary to the Chairperson of each affiliated party no later than April 1 of the year of the Regular Convention.

A list of the names and addresss of all delegates and alternates chosen by each affiliated party shall be sent to the Secretary no later than one month prior to the start (first general session) of the Regular Convention. Amendments to such lists may be made by the affiliated parties until the close of the Credentials Committee meeting preceding the Convention.

Section 7. Duly selected alternates may be freely substituted for any members of their delegation, except for those delegates referred to in the last sentence of Section 5 of this Article, who are temporarily or permanently absent from the floor, pro­ vided the procedure has been clearly specified by the affiliated party in advance of the convention, and the Secretary has been provided with lists of the affiliated party's delegates and alternates, as well as a copy of the affiliated party's rules governing substitutions.

Section 8. Delegates shall be required to be members of either the Party or an affiliate party.

Section 1. The Chair of the Constitution, Bylaws and Rules Committee and of the Platform Committee shall be the presiding officer of his or her respective Committee.

Section 2. A majority vote of those of the Committee members present is necessary for a "do-pass" recommendation, and in the case of the Platform Committee, a majority must approve each specific Plank separately.

Section 3. The Committees shall report their recommendations to the floor of the Convention in accordance with the Convention Rules.

Section 4. Four or more members of the Platform Committee may join together to issue a minority report regarding any plank to the floor of the convention. Two or more members of the Consti­ tution, Bylaws and Rules Committee or of the Credentials Commit­ tee may join together to issue a minority report regarding their business.

Section 5. A member must be present in Committee to vote.

Section 6. More than one-half of the membership of each Committee shall constitute a quorum.

Section 1.  Nominations of candidates for President and Vice­ President of the United States may be made only at the Regular Convention held in the year preceding the Presidential election year.

Section 2. No candidate may be nominated for President or Vice­ President who is ineligible under the United States Constitution, or who has not expressed a willingness to accept the nomination of the Party. No candidate may be nominated for President or Vice-President who is not a member of the Party.

Section 3. Nominations shall be made from the convention floor by the delegates. All balloting shall be done by roll-call vote of the states and District of Columbia in alphabetical order.

Section 4. The Party's nominee for President shall be chosen by a majority vote of the delegates in attendance at the time of the balloting. If after four ballots no candidate has attained a majority vote, the candidate with the least votes shall be struck from the subsequent ballots; this procedure shall be repeated after each even-numbered ballot in which no candidate has received a majority vote, until one candidate attains a majority.

Section 5. The Party's nominee for Vice-President shall be chosen by the same procedure as for the Presidential nominee, except that the Presidential nominee shall have the power to veto any candidate for Vice-President with whom he or she does not wish to run. The Convention may overturn such veto by a two-thirds vote.

Section 6. In the event of the death, resignation or disqualifica­ tion of the Party's nominee for President, the Vice-Presidential nominee shall become the Presidential candidate. A two-thirds majority of the entire National Committee may, at a meeting, fill a Vice-Presidential vacancy and, if necessary, a simultaneous Presidential vacancy.

Section 7. A candidate's nomination may be suspended by a three­ fourths vote of the entire membership of the National Committee at a meeting. That candidate's nomination shall then be declared null and void unless the suspended candidate appeals the suspension to the Judicial Committee within seven days of receipt of notification of suspension. The resolution of suspension must state the specific reasons for suspension and must be signed by each member of the National Committee agreeing thereto. The Judicial Committee shall meet and act on this appeal within 30 days and before the election.

There shall be a Platform Committee, a Constitution, Bylaws and Rules Committee, and a Credentials Committee for each Regular Convention. There shall be a standing Judicial Committee.

Section 1. The Constitution, Bylaws and Rules Committee shall consist of ten Party members appointed by the National Committee no later than three months before a Regular Convention.

Section 2. The Platform Committee shall consist of twenty members, selected as follows:

a. One member from each of ten affiliated parties having the largest memberships (as determined by the National Committee, according to Articles V and XII); these shall be selected by the ten respective parties no later than one month prior to the convention.

b. Ten members appointed by the National Committee, including no less than five members from states other than the ten having the largest party memberships; these members shall be appointed no later than three months prior to the Regular Convention.

If a vacancy shall occur on the Platform Committee, it may be filled by action of the body which originally chose the former occupant of the vacant seat; in the case of Platform Committee members chosen by affiliate parties, vacancies may be filled by a vote of the state's delegation to the Regular Convention, if necessary.

Section 3. A Credentials Committee, composed of ten members, shall be selected as follows:

a. Five members chosen by the National Committee.

b. One member from each of the five affiliated parties having the largest memberships (as determined according to Article VI); these shall be elected by the five respective parties no later than one month prior to the Convention.

Section 4. The Judicial Committee shall be appointed by and exclusive of the National Committee for the same term as the National Committee and shall be composed of nine members; any five members shall constitute a quorum. The National Committee shall designate a Chair, to whom all notice of appeals shall be sent.

==ARTICLE IX: RESOLUTIONS==

Section 2. Resolutions must not be in conflict with the Statement of Principles. Challenges of such adopted resolutions believed by ten per cent (10%) of the delegates to be in conflict with the Statement of Principles shall be referred in writing, during the Regular Convention, to the Judicial Committee by the delegates requesting action for consideration. The challenge shall specify in what manner the resolution is believed to be in conflict.

If the resolution is vetoed by the Judicial Committee, it will be declared null and void, but can be reinstated by a three­ fourths (3/4) vote of the Regular Convention.

Section 1. The National Committee shall promulgate the Bylaws in accordance with applicable law.

==ARTICLE XVI: CONVENTION RULES==

Section 1. Conventions of the Party shall be conducted in accordance with the current rules and Bylaws, unless otherwise amended at a Regular Convention.

Section 2. The Convention Rules may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the delegates at any Regular Convention.

Section 1. This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the delegates at any Regular Convention.

Section 2.  Article VIII, Section 2, shall not be amended by a vote of less than seven-eighths of the delegates at a Regular Convention (after 1972).

==RULE I: VOTING ELIGIBILITY==

Section 1. The Secretary, acting on behalf of the Credentials Committee, shall report the number of delegates registered in attendance and eligible to vote directly after the opening of the first business session, and at the beginning of each succeeding session.

Section 2. All delegates shall be eligible to vote on all matters. In order to vote on a given matter, a delegate must be present  on the  floor  at  the  time  the  vo·Le  is taken. Each delegate present shall have one vote. use of the unit rule or unit voting is prohibited at national Conventions.

Section 3.  An alternate, upon certification by the Secretary, shall be designated as a delegate whenever a delegate of the same state has not been registered in attendance.  This status shall continue until the absent delegate registers in attendance. If the state party has made no provision for filling delegate vacancies, the alternate substitute shall be decided by drawing lots.

Section 4. If the affiliated party has made no provision, an alternate may temporarily vote in place of a delegate from the same state while he or she has the written consent of that delegate; however, no delegate may cast more than one vote on a question.

Section 5. All members must wear the identification badge issued upon registration in order to be admitted to the convention hall.

Section 2. The Chair may require any motion offered from the con­ vention floor to be in writing, signed by the mover, and submitted to the Secretary.

Section 2. In cases where a roll-call vote is required, polling shall be by state.  The Secretary will ask for the vote from each state in alphabetical order, and the chair of each delegation shall report the vote for his or her state. The Convention seating will be by state delegations. If someone challenges the vote reported by any state's chair, the Secretary shall poll the delegates from that state individually.

Section 3: Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominations and elections for officers and at-large National Committee members shall be made from the convention floor by the delegates. Each delegation shall tabulate its total vote, and the delegation chair shall deliver a written total to the Secretary. When all delegations have submitted their votes, the Secretary shall declare the voting closed. At this point, a roll-call announce­ment of each delegation's vote total shall be made by delegation chairs in the order received.

==RULE IV: ORDER OF BUSINESS==

The standing order of business for a Regular Convention shall be as follows:

1. Call to order

2. Credentials Committee Report

3. Adopt Agenda

5. Platform Committee Report

7. Election of Party officers and National Committee members­ at-large

8. Other Business.

Section 1. The votes required for passage of amendments to the Constitution, Bylaws, Rules, Statement of Principles and Platform shall be as specified in the Constitution.

Section 2. A quorum shall consist of 40% of the total number of delegates registered in attendance at the Convention.

==RULE VI: DEBATING AND VOTING (CONSTITUTION, BYLAWS AND RULES)==

Section 1. The Chair of the Constitution, Bylaws and Rules Committee shall report each recommendation of the Committee to the Convention separately and may explain the intent or purpose of the proposed amendment(s). The Convention Chair shall open each recommendation to discussion and amendment from the floor. Each recommendation shall be considered and adopted separately, with a maximum of ten minutes discussion on any recommendation.

Section 2.  At any time during the debate on a given amendment, any delegate may move to close debate on that amendment. This motion is not debatable, and requires a two-thirds vote to pass. If it passes, the Convention shall proceed immediately to vote on the amendment at hand.  Similarly, any delegate may move at any time to close debate on the Report itself, and a vote on this motion shall be taken immediately, with two-thirds required to pass.

Section 1. The current Platform shall serve as the basis of all future Platforms.  At Regular Conventions, the existing Platform may be amended. Additional planks or additions to planks must be approved by two-thirds of the delegates present and voting. A platform plank may be deleted by a simple majority vote of the delegates present and voting.

Section 2. The Platform Committee shall meet to consider proposed amendments, prior to the Convention, and shall issue a report to the Convention.  Its recommendations shall be reported to the floor on a plank-by-plank basis, and each shall be debated and voted upon separately, in the following order:

a. Those recommendations receiving a unanimous favorable vote in Committee;

b. Those recommendations receiving a unanimous favorable vote, less abstentions, in Committee;

c. Those recommendation receiving a favorable majority vote from the Committee, regarding  which there is no minority  report. (A minority report shall be defined as a report submitted to the Convention and Platform Committee Chairs in writing, by four or more members of the Platform Committee.)

Section 3. Recommendation falling into the first three categories shall be debated and voted upon in the following manner:

a. The Platform Committee Chair, or some other person designated by him or her, shall read the proposed recommendation, and shall have up to two minutes to give the Committee's thinking in formulating the reconm1enda tion.

b. The Convention Chair shall then open the recommendation to discussion, for a period of 15 minutes. Amendments may be proposed from the floor, one at a time. The d leg te shall then vote on proposed amendments, with a simple maJority sufficient to amend. At the end of 15 minutes, a vote will be taken on whether to bring the recommendation (as amended, if this is the case) to a final vote for acceptance or rejection. If a majority vote is in favor of immediate consider­ ation, the vote to accept or reject the recommendation will follow immediately. If a majority vote against immediate con­ sideration, the proposed recommendation shall be tabled for later consideration, after all other recommendations receiving a favorable majority vote from the Platform Committee have been considered.

Section 4.- When all recommendations in the first three categories have received at least initial consideration, those in the fourth category shall be considered, in the following manner:

Spokesmen for both the Majority and Minority positions shall each have two minutes to present their views. The Chair shall then open consideration of both positions for 5 minutes, during which time any delegate may express his or hew views, but without offering amendments to either the Majority or Minority report. After 5 minutes, there will be a vote on which of the two reports shall be considered for purposes of adopting a recommenda­ tion.   The report receiving the greater number of votes shall then be discussed and voted upon in the manner described in Section 3.

Section 5. After all recommendation receiving a favorable vote from a majority of the Platform Committee have received at least initial consideration, any delegate may proposed any Platform change from the floor. He or she may take up to two minutes to state and explain his or her proposal, with debating and voting procedure as described in Section 3.

Section 6. Finally, if time permits, proposals which were con­ sidered by the Platform Committee, but which receive an unfavor­ able vote from a majority of the Committee, may be considered; with a spokesman for the minority position giving the reasons in favor, and the Platform Committee Chair--or some other representa­ tive of the majority position--giving the reasons why it was voted down, before the proposal is taken to the floor for debate.

Section 7. At any time during the discussion on any Plank, any delegate may move to close debate on the Plank or amendment under discussion; a two-thirds vote is required to close debate.

Section 1. Resolutions must be approved by two-thirds (2/3) of the delegates present and voting.

Section 2. Resolutions must not be in conflict with the Statement of Principles.  Challenges of such adopted resolutions believed by ten per cent (10%) of the delegates to be in conflict with the Statement of Principles shall be referred in writing, during the

Regular Convention, to the Judicial Committee by the delegates requesting action for consideration. The challenge shall specify in what manner the resolution is believed to be in con­ flict.

The Judicial Committee shall consider the challenge, decide whether the Statement of Principles is conformed to, and make a report, stating the justification for their decision, to the floor of,the Convention.

If the resolution is vetoed by the Judicial Committee, it will be declared null and void, but can be reinstated by a three­ fourths (3/4) vote of the Regular Convention.

Section 1. Nominations for the four Party offices shall be from the floor, with any national or affiliated Party member eligible to run for any office. For each office, a majority vote will be necessary and sufficient for election; in cases where no candidate receives a majority, runoff votes will be held, dropping the candidate with the least votes after each ballot.

Section 2. Nominations for the seven at-large National Committee positions shall be from the floor, with all national or affili­ ated Party members eligible for nomination. Each delegate shall cast seven votes, to be tabulated cumulatively. Those seven candidates receiving the highest vote totals shall be declared elected. If a tie vote affecting the outcome of the election occurs, another ballot for the remaining offices shall be held, with each delegate allowed to cast as many votes are there are offices to fill.

Section 3. Nominations for each candidate may be made by any person present on the floor, provided he or she has the candidate's permission. Nominating speeches shall be within the following time limits:

a. National Chair: five minute nominating, two three-minutes seconding speeches;

b. All others: two minute nominating, two one-minute seconding speeches.

Section 4. The National Committee members from each of the Regions shall be elected by the delegates from that region, provided there are at least five such delegates present, in caucus, after the election of the four officers and the seven members-at-large. If a Region is represented by fewer than five delegates, the incumbent Regional Representative will remain in office until a new Regional Representative is elected at a Regional caucus to be held within ninety days of the last day of the Regular Convention. The incumbent Representative shall call said caucus, and preside over it. Each Region's delegates may elect their representative by whatever manner they choose, provided all delegates present from that Region are given equal voice in the selection.