Revised Feb 13, 2024

ARTICLE I – NAME, AUTHORITY, PURPOSE AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

1. This committee shall be known as the “Augusta County Democratic Committee” herein referred to as the “County Committee”

2. These Bylaws are adopted by the County Committee under the authority of the Virginia Democratic Party Plan (herein referred to as the State Party Plan) and shall continue in effect subject to amendment as elsewhere provided in this document. The County Committee shall have full charge of the affairs of the Democratic Party in Augusta County including the nominating process for and support of Democratic candidates in Augusta County. If any provision of these By-Laws conflict with a provision of the State Party Plan, the State Party Plan will prevail.

3. It shall be the duty of the County Committee, as well as each officer and member thereof, to seek the registration of voters, to perfect the Democratic organization within Augusta County, and to do all within their power to aid in the victory of the Democratic Party’s nominees in all elections, except as otherwise provided in in Section 10.9 of the State Party Plan.

ARTICLE II – BIENNIAL REORGANIZATION 

1. Biennially, the membership of the County Committee shall expire and new members shall be elected at caucus to be held in December of each odd numbered year.

2. When the County Committee is to be reorganized, the existing Executive Committee shall determine by resolution, duly adopted, the time, place and manner of such and the basis of representation of each district. At the discretion of the Executive Committee, this meeting can take place at the regularly scheduled date and time of the regularly scheduled December County Committee meeting (See Article VIII of this document) except to be conducted at the Augusta County Government Center in Verona or such other location as the Executive Committee may deem appropriate. In any event, this meeting shall take place between December 1st and January 15th (of the following year), inclusive. Also, this meeting shall take place on a Saturday or on any other weekday evening. The date of the reorganization meeting shall be communicated to the State Party by November 15th.

3. The Chair of the County Committee shall cause ample public notice of all these matters to be made in order that maximum participation of the Democratic voters of Augusta County may be encouraged.

ARTICLE III – MEMBERSHIP 

1. The County Committee shall consist of those members elected by the Democratic voters of Augusta County present at the reorganization caucus (See Article II above) and those members elected by the County Committee itself during the year to fill vacancies that occur subsequent to such election by voters and to accommodate additional membership.

2. Declarations of candidacy for election to the County Committee shall be accompanied, within a reasonable time, by a dues payment on a voluntary basis in an amount fixed each year by the Executive Committee. Fees shall be waived for any Democrat due to inability to pay.

3. Those Democratic elected officials holding office in or from Virginia who reside in Augusta County and elected members of the Democratic National Committee residing in Augusta County shall be voting ex-officio members of the County Committee upon signing an Application for Membership form and the paying of dues on a voluntary basis.

4. Members of the Virginia State Central Committee who are not otherwise members of the County Committee and who maintain their voting residence in Augusta County shall be voting ex-officio members of the County committee upon signing an Application for Membership form and the paying of dues on a voluntary basis.

ARTICLE IV – OFFICERS 

1. Following the election of its members and at its organizational meeting, the County Committee shall elect the following officers: Chair, Vice Chair, Vice Chair for Communications, Vice Chair for Outreach, Van Coordinator, Treasurer, and Secretary. Such election shall be by secret ballot except when a candidate is unopposed.

2. The Secretary shall submit to State Party headquarters within five (5) days of his or her election the names, addresses, emails and telephone numbers of the officers and names and addresses of members of the committee. The Secretary shall submit a list of any changes to the committee list every 6 months thereafter until the next committee elections.

3. Vacancies in any of the above offices shall be filled by election at the next regularly scheduled meeting, but not longer than 90 days.

4. When a vacancy in the Chair occurs in a three-month period prior to a general election, the Vice Chair shall automatically assume the duties of the Chair, and the election of the Chair shall be postponed until the first County Committee meeting subsequent to the general election, except in the year of the County Committee’s reorganization, when it shall be held at the December reorganization.

5. No person may hold office in the County Committee who is not a member of that Committee and who does not reside within the political boundaries that the Committee serves. Any change in residency or membership status shall result in a vacancy in that office.

ARTICLE V – DISTRICT COMMITTEE 

1. The duly elected members of the County Committee residing in any Magisterial District of Augusta County shall constitute the District Committee for that District.

2. Each District Committee as deemed appropriate shall elect a Chair, a Secretary and such other officers as it may see fit and may adopt such bylaws as it sees fit not inconsistent with these By-Laws and the State Party Plan.

ARTICLE VI – EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

1. There shall be an Executive Committee of the County Committee whose function shall be to coordinate the work of the County Committee, District Committees and any Standing Committees and to perfect resolutions for the regular meetings of the County Committee.

2. The Executive Committee shall consist of the elected officers of the County Committee, the Chairs of the District Committees, the Chairs of the Standing Committees, any member of the State Central Committee who resides in Augusta County, the highest ranking officer of the Sixth Congressional District Committee who is a member of the County Committee, a representative of the Young Democrats of Staunton, Augusta County, and Waynesboro who is a registered voter of Augusta County, and the immediate past Chair of the County Committee. The Chair of the County Committee will also act as Chair of the Executive Committee.

3. The Executive Committee shall meet as appropriate to fulfill responsibilities as stated. Frequency, times and dates to be determined by the Chair of said committee. A quorum of forty percent (40%) of the members of the Executive Committee shall be required to take any action, except to adjourn a meeting to another time or place.

4. While the right of members of the County Committee to introduce resolutions at a meeting shall not be abridged, members will make every effort to submit proposed resolutions to the Chair of the Executive Committee prior to the County Committee meeting at which it is proposed that the resolution(s) be considered.
   
   

ARTICLE VII – OTHER COMMITTEES 

1. There shall be the following standing committees: Voter Registration, Communication, and Outreach. The Chair of the Communications Committee shall be the Vice Chair for Communications and the Chair of the Outreach Committee shall be the Vice Chair for Outreach. A Chair for each other Standing Committee(s) shall be appointed by the Chair of the County Committee. A standing committee shall meet at the call of the Chair of the committee or upon the request of any five of its members. The County Chair shall be an ex officio, nonvoting member of all Standing Committees.

2. The County Committee may establish special committees. The purpose of a special committee, the method of election or appointment of its members and the method of selection of its Chair shall be expressed in the motion of the County Committee by which the Special Committee is established.

3. The County Chair may establish Focus Groups and appoint their members and Chair for a limited purpose to be concluded within 90 days. If the work of a Focus Group cannot be concluded within 90 days, the County Committee may establish a Special Committee for the purpose.

ARTICLE VIII – MEETINGS, NOTICES OF MEETINGS AND EVENTS 

1. The County Committee shall meet on a monthly basis at a regularly scheduled time and place currently established as the 1st Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM and normally conducted at the Augusta County Government Center in Verona, VA. If the regularly scheduled date falls on an election day in Augusta County, the meeting will be rescheduled for another day within that month. In emergency situations or when scheduling conflicts arise, the regularly scheduled time and place may by changed. Written or electronic notice shall comply with the requirement in the State Party Plan for seven day notice of a meeting of the County Committee.

2. Special meetings of the County Committee may be held upon the call of the County Committee Chair or upon receipt by the County Chair of a written request signed by at least 10% of the members of the County Committee. At least 15 days written or electronic notice shall be given of any such meeting. In cases of emergency or limited time constraints to act, this notice requirement may be waived.

3. Written or electronic notice of all regular and special meetings shall be sent to all Executive Committee members.

4. The presence of thirty percent (30%) of the active members of the County Committee shall constitute a quorum for the conducting of business, except to adjourn a meeting to another time or place. For these purposes, active members are defined as those members attending three or more regularly scheduled County Committee meetings annually. All others will be designated as supporting members.

5. The use of proxies at any meetings is prohibited.

6. All meetings of the County Committee and its committees shall be public.

ARTICLE IX – RULES 

1. Where not inconsistent with these Bylaws or with the Democratic Party Plan, Robert’s Rules of Order, Revised, shall govern the conduct of business of the County Committee and other Committees that may be established.

ARTICLE X – BY-LAWS AND AMENDMENTS 

1. The County Committee shall have a set of bylaws available for its membership upon request. Such bylaws shall be submitted to State Party Headquarters for review as to form and consistency with the State Party Plan. It shall be the responsibility of the County Committee Chair to submit such bylaws to State Headquarters within 90 days if his or her election as chair.

2. These Bylaws may be amended by majority vote at the December organizational meeting or at two subsequent consecutive meetings of the County Committee at which quorums are present, provided the members of the County Committee are informed of the proposed changes at least seven days in advance of each meeting.

ARTICLE XI – REMOVAL 

1. The County Committee may remove from both office and membership any person found guilty of neglect of any duty imposed upon him or her. Such action shall not be taken without at least ten (10) days written or electronic notice to the accused member and an opportunity for him or her to refute such charges in a hearing before a sub-committee of the County Committee. The decision of the County Committee may be appealed to the Executive Committee. 

ARTICLE XII – APPEALS 

1. Any ten (10) Democratic voters of Augusta County who feel that the County Committee has been elected in a manner inconsistent with the State Party Plan may, within fifteen (15) days after such election, appeal in writing to the Chair of the 6th Congressional District Committee.

2. Any Democratic voter aggrieved by any decision, action or failure to act by the County Committee may appeal to the 6th Congressional District Committee. The decision of the 6th Congressional District Committee may be appealed to the State Steering Committee.

ARTICLE XIII – STATE PARTY DUES 

1. The County Committee shall be responsible for paying to the Treasurer of the State Central Committee in a timely manner the annual dues provided for under Section 4.15 of the State Party Plan.

ARTICLE XIV – NOMINATION AND NOMINATION CONVENTIONS 

1. The County Committee shall prescribe the methods to be used within Augusta County to nominate candidates for county and local offices, and to elect members of the County Committee and delegates and alternates to party conventions. Such nominations and elections shall be made by primary, convention, or caucus. See exception in Section 8.12 of the State Party Plan concerning when an incumbent candidate was nominated by a primary.

2. In the election of delegates and alternates to any county, district or state convention, it shall be the duty of the County Committee to prescribe whether such election shall be by precinct, magisterial district or county caucus or convention. The County Committee shall also determine the number of delegates and alternates to which each precinct or magisterial district shall be entitled pursuant to the Call to Convention and Delegate Selection Plan issued for said Convention.

Bylaws
of the
Augusta County Democratic Committee