Mercer County Democratic Constitution & Bylaws

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CONSTITUTIONANDBYLAWS

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MERCERCOUNTYDEMOCRATICCOMMITTEE

ARTICLE1:NAMEANDPURPOSE

Section1:ThenameofthisorganizationshallbeMERCERCOUNTYDEMOCRATICCOMMITTEE.

Section 2: The purpose of the Mercer County Democratic Committee shall be furthering good government,encouraginggrassrootsparticipationintheDemocraticParty,recruitingandsupportingDemocraticcandidatesforPrimary and General Elections, developing an open convention system for endorsing Democratic candidates inPrimaryElections,andfulfillingthedutiesassignedtoitunderTitle19oftheNewJerseyRevisedCode.

ARTICLEII:MEMBERSHIP

Section1:TheCountyCommitteeshallbecomposedofdulyelectedCommitteemenandCommitteewomenintheelectiondistrictsofMercerCounty.

Section 2: Any Committeeman or Committeewoman vacancy occurring within the Mercer County DemocraticCommittee shall be filled at ameeting of theMunicipal Democratic Committee orWard County Committee inwhichthevacancyoccurs.

Section3:NotwithstandinganyprovisionofTitle19oftheRevisedStatutesoftheStateofNewJersey,membersof the County Committee shall be elected biennially at the primary for the general election in even numberedyearsinthemannerprovidedinTitle19oftheRevisedStatutes.MembersshalltakeofficeonthefirstSaturdayfollowingtheirelection,onwhichdaythetermsofallmembers thereforeelectedshall terminate. ThebiennialreorganizationmeetingofthecountycommitteeshallbeheldontheFirstTuesdayfollowingtheprimaryelectioninevennumberedyearsinthemannerprovidedinTitle19oftheRevisedStatutes.

ARTICLEIII:ELECTIONOFOFFICERS

Section1:Officers.TheCommitteeshallelectthefollowingofficersatthebiennialreorganizationmeeting:

Chair –TheChairshallberesponsibleforcarryingoutthegoalsanddirectivesassetforthherein.

Vice Chair–TheViceChairshallbeoftheoppositegenderofthechairandshallassistthechairassetinthedutiesofthechairaboveandshallactasChairiftheofficeofthechairshouldbecomevacantforanyreason.

1st Vice Chair, 2nd Vice Chair, 3rd Vice Chair and 4th Vice Chair–TheCommitteeshallelecta1stViceChairanda2ndViceChairoftheoppositegender. TheCommitteeshall furtherelecta3rdViceChairanda4thViceChairoftheoppositegender.TheViceChairsshallberesponsibleforcarryingoutthepolicesoftheCommitteeasdirectedatthediscretionofthechair.

Recording Secretary–TheRecordingSecretaryshallberesponsiblefortherecording,readingandmaintenanceoftheminutesofallmeetingsoftheCommittee.

Corresponding  Secretary – The Corresponding Secretary shall be responsible for maintaining the list of all themembersandofficersandofficialcorrespondenceoftheCommitteeandshallprovidenoticetoallmeetingsoftheCommitteetoallmembers,officersandDemocraticelectedOfficialsinMercerCounty.

Treasurer –The treasurer shallbe responsible forall financesof theCommittee including themaintenanceandfilingofallaccountandelectionreports.

Sergeants‐at‐Arms–ThetwoSergeants‐at‐Armsshall leadthepledgeofallegianceandpreservetheorderatallmeetingsoftheCommittee.

Section 3: A Nominating Committee shall be selected by the County Chair at least five days before thereorganization meeting and the names of the members of the nominating Committee shall be sent to the

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membersoftheCountyCommitteewiththeMeetingNotice.TheNominatingCommitteeshallacceptapplicationsfor nomination to office for the purpose of ensuring that all candidates are duly registered and recognizedDemocratsresidinginMercerCounty.NominationCommitteemembersshallnotbenominatedforanyofficetotheCommittee.

Section4:AllCountyCommitteeOfficers shallhaveobtainedmore than fiftypercentof thevoteofCommitteeMembers in order to be elected. In the event thatmore than two candidates run for the same office and noindividualcandidategetsmorethanfiftypercentofthevote,thereshallbearunoffofthetoptwo.

ARTICLEIV:EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR

Section1:TheremaybethepositionofExecutiveDirectorwhowillbeappointedbytheCountyChairandwhowillserveatthediscretionoftheCountyChair.

ARTICLEV:MUNICIPALCHAIR

Section1:EachMunicipalityorWardshallformaMunicipalorWardCountyCommitteeOrganizationandelectaMunicipalChairinaccordancewithTitle19.

ARTICLEVI:COMMITTEES

Section1:TheChairshallappointmembersofthefollowingstandingcommittees inanumbersufficienttocarryoutthepurposeofeachcommitteeandshalldesignateachairtoeachcommittee.Considerationinselectingthememberstoeachcommitteeshallbegiventoaffirmativeactiongoalsandequalrepresentationamongmalesandfemales.MembersoftheStandingCommitteesmustberegistereddemocratsinMercerCountyandthemajorityofeachstandingcommitteemustbecomprisedofCountyCommitteemembers.

Membership:TheMembershipCommitteeshallberesponsibleforpromotionandrecruitmentofmembershipintheCountyCommittee.

Program and Workshop: TheProgramandWorkshopCommitteeshallberesponsiblefordeveloping,organizingandproducingprogramsandworkshopsforthepurposeofeducatingCountyCommitteeMembersandinteresteddemocratsintothevariousaspectsofpartybuildingandcampaigntechniques

Finance:TheFinanceCommitteeshallworkwiththeChairtoensurethefinancialgoalsassetforthbytheChairwithin the scope of the appropriate election finance laws and to ensure the financial viability of the CountyCommittee.

Convention: The Convention Committee shall be responsible for carrying out the call of the annual CountyDemocraticConventionforthepurposeofendorsingcandidatesforPrimaryelections.

ARTICLEVII:MEETINGS

Section1:ThefirstmeetingoftheCountyCommitteeshallbetheBiennialOrganizationMeetingtobeheldonthefirst Tuesday following the Primary Election in even numbered years in accordancewith these bylaws and theRevisedStatutesoftheStateofNewJersey.

Section2: There shallbeat least two regularmeetingsof theMercerCountyDemocraticCommitteeheldeachyear.OneofthesemeetingsmaybeheldinoraboutthemonthofFebruaryforthepurposeofconductingsuchbusinessthatisexpectedtoimpactthecommitteeintheupcomingelectionyear.AsecondmeetingmaybeheldinoraboutthemonthofSeptemberinpreparationfortheupcominggeneralelection.

Section3:Specialmeetingsmaybeheldatanytime,uponthecalloftheCountyChairoruponwrittenrequestsignedby1/3oftheelectedmembersoftheCountyCommitteeuponpresentationtotheCountyChair.

Section4:Allmembersof theMercerCountyDemocraticCommittee shall benotified,bywrittennotice, threedayspriortothedateoftheMercerCountyDemocraticCommitteeReorganizationMeetingandtendaysnoticepriortothedateofanyregularorspecialmeeting.

Section5:MeetingsshallbeconductedaccordingtoRobertsRulesofparliamentaryprocedure.

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ARTICLEVII:AMENDMENTS

Section 1: Whenever an amendment to the Constitution and By Laws is to be brought before the CountyCommittee, a statement of the proposed amendmentmust be included in themeeting notice and sent to allmembersatleasttendayspriortothemeeting.

Section2: InordertoadoptanamendmenttotheconstitutionandByLaws,2/3ofthemembers inattendancemustvoteinitsfavor.

ARTICLEIX:QUORUM

Section1:TwentyfivepercentofthedulyelectedCountyCommitteemembersmustbeinattendanceinordertoconstituteaquorumatthereorganizationmeetingandatanyothermeetingoftheCountyCommitteetoconductBusiness.