York Township Democratic Organization
Proposed Amendments to Bylaws
These amendments will be voted on at our March 17, 2010 meeting
The original bylaws to be amended are here.
Amendment III
Article VII - Officers, sections 1 and 2, and Article VIII - Nomination and Election of Officers, section 2, Third Vice-Chair shall be added to the list of officers. Article IX - Duties of Officers, "The Third Vice-Chair shall serve as coordinator of election judges." shall be inserted as a new section following the existing section 3, and the following sections shall be re-numbered accordingly.
Amendment IV
Article VII - Officers, sections 1, following "three members elected at large," "all past Chairs of the organization (except any who choose to opt out) who are still Democratic precinct committeemen in York Township," shall be inserted.
Amendment V
Article VIII - Nomination and Election of Officers, section 4 shall be added as follows:
4. a. Any officer may be recalled for non-performance of duties, excepting as listed in subsection e below.
b. Recall proceedings will be initiated upon a majority vote of the Executive Board, or upon the submission to the Board of a petition signed by members whose number at least equals 25% of current precinct committeemen.
c. The Executive Board will schedule a vote to take place at a meeting of the organization not less than thirty days but not more than sixty days after the initiation of recall. Notice shall be provided to the membership, specifying the meeting date and time and the officer(s) to be recalled.
d. Removing an officer requires a two-thirds majority, either of weighted vote of precinct committeemen present (if the officer is a chair or vice-chair) or un-weighted vote of all members present (for other officers). If such a vote succeeds, elections may be held immediately to replace the removed officer. If such replacement results in another vacancy (another officer resigns his current position in order to replace the removed officer) then elections may be held immediately to fill this vacancy as well.
e. No officer may be recalled who has not served in his or her current position for at least six months, or whose term is due to expire in less than six months. Recall may not be initiated against the same officer more than once in any six-month period.
Amendment VI
Article XII - Endorsements shall be added, as follows:
Article XII - Endorsements
1. For the organization to endorse a Democrat running against one or more other Democrats, a three-fifths majority vote is required. Notice of such a vote shall be provided to the membership, as well as to all Democratic candidates for the office in question, at least three weeks in advance.
2. Endorsement of a candidate in a non-partisan election, or endorsement of an independent or another party's candidate in a race for which there is no Democrat on the ballot, is also subject to the restrictions listed in section 1.
3. A Democrat who has already won the party primary or who is unopposed by any other Democrat may be endorsed by a simple majority vote with no notice required.
4. Any endorsement, once made, may be rescinded by a simple majority, but such a vote is subject to the same advance notice requirements, if any, that applied to the original vote.
Amendment VII
Where officers are required to provide notice to the membership, posting the information in question on the organization's public web site and to the organization's email announcements list shall constitute sufficient notification, except for individual members who specifically request to be notified by non-electronic means.