BYLAWS

I.        Name. The name of this organization is “Plymouth Area Democrats”.

II.        Regional Committee. The Plymouth Area Democrats shall serve as a regional political committee of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. As such, the member towns of the Plymouth Area Democrats shall include the following: Alexandria, Ashland, Bridgewater, Bristol, Campton, Ellsworth, Groton, Hebron, Holderness, Lincoln, Plymouth, Rumney, Thornton, Waterville Valley, Wentworth, and Woodstock, New Hampshire.

III.        Purpose. Its purpose shall be to promote the ideals and principles of the Democratic Party in the State of New Hampshire and the nation through the election of duly nominated candidates; and by aiding our government to function effectively as a true democracy and a government representative of the people.

IV.        Functions

1) To be a voice to the NHDP and the Democratic Party for our Democratic regional constituents and candidates

2) To coordinate with the Grafton County Democratic Committee and the other regional committees in Grafton County on political matters of countywide importance

3) To administer the affairs of the Democratic Party within the member towns

4) To exercise leadership within the member towns and cooperate with the various town committees in the support of Democratic candidates for local and county offices, and with the Democratic State Committee in the support of Democratic candidates for national and state offices

5) To provide rules and regulations as may be required for the functioning of the Plymouth Area Democrats

6) To expand and strengthen the Democratic Party by maintaining open and public proceedings

7) Through the Town Chairs, to fill any vacancies in nominations for State Representative and State Convention Delegate as provided by RSA 655:37. In the case of a multi-town legislative district, the Chairs of any respective towns/cities shall work with the regional committee in filling vacancies

8) To appoint inspectors of election as provided by RSA 658:2

V.        Membership. Membership shall consist of all registered Democrats in the regional committee member towns. Active members are defined as members who A) regularly attend General Meetings or B) regularly participate in committee functions or activities or C) regularly contribute funds to the committee.

VI.        Officers. The following officers shall be elected at a caucus to be convened between January 15 and April 1 of any even numbered year for Chair or Co- Chairs, Secretary and Technology Officer; and any odd numbered year for Vice Chair, Treasurer and Communications Officer, or as may be necessary to fill a vacancy. Nominations to fill officer vacancies may be made by the Nominating Committee or by any member at the time of the caucus. Only registered Democrats may vote for the officers. The officers named here are together the members of the Executive Committee. All decisions of the executive committee shall be made by a majority vote of the Officers present.

Chair or Co-Chairs: The Chair or Co-Chairs shall preside over all meetings of the regional committee and provide leadership consistent with the interests of the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates for public office in general elections. The Chair or Co-Chairs (or designee) will attend all meetings of the Grafton County Committee and cooperate with the reasonable requests of the state Democratic Party acting through the New Hampshire State Committee or the Grafton County Committee.

The Chair or one Co-Chair plus one other officer (which may be the other Co-Chair) shall be required for any monetary disbursement outside of budgeted items/amounts.

Vice Chair: The Vice Chair shall undertake all the duties of the Chair or Co-Chairs when the Chair or Co-Chairs are unavailable. The Vice Chair is responsible for maintaining a list of active members of the respective committee and to increase the membership of the committee and the number of active members.

Treasurer: The Treasurer shall maintain books of account for the committee consistent with the obligations imposed by the laws of the state of New Hampshire and directives from the Democratic Party acting through the State Committee or the County Committee. The Treasurer or designee shall be solely responsible for issuing checks for budgeted items. Expenditures for items not listed in the budget or for amounts significantly in excess of the budgeted amounts require the majority consent of the Executive Committee. Exceptions for minor items such as office supplies, etc. or for emergencies may be made at the Treasurer’s discretion; provided, however, that in such cases, notification to the Executive Committee shall be made as soon as possible.

No individual member or group of members shall act independently to authorize an expenditure or reimbursement.

The Treasurer shall, in accordance with the directions of the Executive Committee, be responsible for presenting a budget at the last scheduled meeting of a calendar year, to be approved by a majority of the members present. The members present at such meeting may modify the proposed budget prior to the vote of approval. The fiscal year shall run from January 1 through December 31.

Secretary: The Secretary shall record minutes of all committee meetings and cause them to be distributed to the members within a reasonable time.

Technology Officer: The Technology Officer shall develop, maintain and manage the PAD Website and be responsible for maintaining the email list of members. Additionally, this officer shall send out electronic and news worthy messages to the PAD membership when requested to do so by the Chair, Co-Chairs or Vice Chair when requested in a timely fashion. The Technology Officer shall provide assistance to Democratic candidates for office or current Democratic officeholders with their technology needs and shall work closely with the publicity officer to disseminate publicity.

Communications Officer: The Communications Officer shall oversee and ensure timely mass and social media communications for the organization. The Communications Officer shall also work with the other officers to develop strategies to expand the number of active members.

VII.       Nominating Committee. A Nominating Committee of no fewer than two (2) nor more than five (5) members shall be appointed by a majority of the officers, and shall search out and vet qualified candidates for opening executive committee seats and bring names to the membership before scheduled elections or as may be necessary to fill a vacancy.

VIII.       Bylaws Committee. A Bylaws Committee of no fewer than three (3) nor more than five (5) members shall be appointed by a majority of the officers, and shall review, study, and advise the Executive Committee on any proposed changes to the Bylaws of the Plymouth Area Democrats.

The chair of the Bylaws Committee shall be elected from among its members, and a member of the executive committee shall be appointed from the executive committee as ex-officio. The Bylaws committee shall be appointed and convened biannually after the election of the Chair of the Executive committee. The Executive committee shall make the final determination on the wording of the changes to the Bylaws (if any) and shall notify the membership of the proposed changes and the date of the meeting in which the body will be called up to vote on the motion to amend the Bylaws.

IX.       Terms of Office.

Each Executive Committee officer shall serve for a term of two (2) years.

Each officer shall be eligible for election or appointment to their respective offices for no more than two (2) consecutive terms.

Each member of the Advisory Board shall serve for a term of two (2) years and shall be eligible for election or appointment to their respective offices for no more than four (4) consecutive terms.

Members of the Nominating Committee shall serve for a term of two (2) years and shall be eligible for election or appointment to their respective offices for no more than four (4) consecutive terms.

The Bylaws committee shall serve for a term of one (1) year and shall be eligible for election or appointment to their respective offices for no more than four (4) consecutive terms.

X.       Powers and Duties. The Plymouth Area Democrats shall have the following powers and duties:

1. Elect Officers
2. Support the State Committee and respective County Committee
3. Recruit Democratic candidates for public office
4. Provide material and financial support to Democratic candidates for public office when available; the Executive Committee shall determine the allocation of any such support
5. Adopt a plan to increase public participation, voting, and membership in the Democratic Party
6. Approve an annual budget to support the mission and activities of the organization
7. Raise funds to carry out its functions
8. Take any action supporting the goals and aspirations of its Mission Statement

XI.       Meetings. The organization shall meet at least eight (8) times a year, and shall have such other and further meetings as the organization may deem necessary or desirable. Meetings, including elections and votes of the body on regular business motions may be held in-person, via telephone conference, or internet technology.

XII.      Notice of Meetings. The Communications Officer shall give notice of all meetings to the members by means calculated to assure the broadest possible attendance.

XIII.      Conduct of Meetings. Meetings may include the following:

1. Call to Order
2. Introduction of guests present
3. Report by member(s) who serve in elected office
4. Report of Secretary and adoption of minutes
5. Report of Treasurer
6. Report of Chair or Co-Chairs
7. Report of Vice Chair
8. Reports of any ad-hoc committee
9. Old Business
10. New Business
11. Address by guest, if any

Meetings are informal, but in the instance of division, Roberts Rules of Order shall be employed as they may be applicable to these proceedings, and the Secretary shall record all votes.

XIV.     Quorum of Meetings. Quorum of organization meetings is defined as 50% of the number of members present at the Call to Order and must include at least one member of the Executive Committee.

XV.       Special Meetings. The Chair (or Vice Chair in the absence of the Chair) may call special meetings from time to time.

XVI.      Standing/Ad-Hoc Committees. The following standing committees shall be formed. Each standing committee shall report regularly to the Chair on its activities and make recommendations as needed.

A. Executive Committee
B. Nominating Committee
C. Bylaws Committee
D. Such other standing and ad-hoc committees, such as fund-raising and finance, program committee, public relations committee, policy committee and membership committee, as the Officers may deem necessary and appropriate to fulfill and promote the organization’s purposes.

XVII.     Amendment. Any Plymouth Area Democrats member may submit proposed amendments to the Bylaws in writing to the Bylaws Committee. The Bylaws Committee may accept proposed amendments for ninety (90) days after the Bylaws committee has been seated. The Bylaws Committee will submit the draft of the proposed updated Bylaws to the Executive Committee at least 30 days before the final general meeting of the calendar year. The Executive committee will schedule the vote on the proposed changes to the Bylaws by the membership on or before the upcoming meeting in which the officer elections is scheduled. The membership shall be notified of the proposed amendments and the scheduled vote at least thirty (30) days prior to the meeting for which the vote has been scheduled.

Adopted as amended this 23d day of February, 2022.