WHY YOUTH?

The following article is courtesy of the Young Democrats of America. It outlines the national effort to have youth included in the delegate selection plan of the DNC and answers many of the underlying questions that will be posed by our state party.


Frequently Asked Questions

The delegate selection process and how it relates to the DNC’s governing documents is fairly complicated. As a result, we have put together a list of frequently asked questions and their answers.

Q. What is Delegate Selection?
A. Delegate Selection is the process of choosing the over 4,000 delegates who will travel to Denver, Colorado in July, 2008 to formally nominate the candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. Delegates are elected, or selected in some cases, by each state. They also pass the Party Platform.

Q. How long has the DNC Charter required goals and timetables for youth in the Delegate Selection Process?
A. Since, 1974, when the DNC Charter was amended to add the words “minority groups, Blacks, Native Americans, Asian/Pacifics, Hispanics, women and youth” requiring “specific goals and timetables” for representation.

Q. Why was this provision ignored for over 30 years by the DNC?
A. It was likely just an oversight by the Rules and Bylaws Committee when the language of the Delegate Selection Rules were updated in 1976. Because each year the language of the previous convention is the draft rules used for the next one, it just continued to be left out every four years. If the DNC wanted to take out the requirement for youth, there have been over 50 chances for the DNC to amend the charter since 1976 to do so.

Q. How was this discovered and why is this coming up now?
A. In early stages of preparing YDA’s plan to convince more young democrats to run for convention delegate slots, YDA noticed the “youth” language for the first time. This must be dealt with now because state parties are already writing their plans for the 2008 Convention, and it must be clear that youth goals are required by the Charter, not suggested.

Q. Doesn’t the DNC staff says that the DNC Convention removed youth from required goals in 1980?
A. The current Charter, as written, still includes the word youth when describing “goals and timetables”. The Convention passed a resolution in 1980 listing other groups for goals, but that did NOT remove youth from the Charter. Only an amendment to the Charter can take youth out and remove the requirement. Any rules or Bylaws that are passed cannot override the Charter.

Q. Are you saying the historic disenfranchisement and exclusion of the ethnic minorities listed in the same section of the charter as youth is comparable to what young people face?
A. No. By no means is that our argument. Our issue is solely that the DNC enforce the rules that is has had on the books for 30 years. If youth was NOT listed in the Charter, we would NOT be asking the DNC to add it to the Charter at this time. In fact, when LGBT and Disabled Americans attempted to expand the number of groups listed for required goals, YDA did not pursue that change to include youth. This is simply about enforcing the charter as it is written.

Q. Is it true that having goals for youth will make it harder for the other groups, African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Pacific Islanders and Women to get delegate positions?
A. No. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Because youth is not exclusive of any of those groups, states will be encouraged to elect young people, who are also a member of one of those ethnicities, because they will help meet two goals of their plans. The goals are all based on percentages of the Democratic electorate. If a state has a 31% African American population in the Democratic electorate, 31% of the Delegates should be African American. And if 20% of the Democratic electorate is young, then 20% of the Delegates should be youth. However, these groups overlap, just like the requirement that 50% of the Delegates be women. So if you have a woman who is African American and 30 years old. That person would help meet three of the goals. So, states trying to meet and exceed their goals will not only be encouraged to elect more young people, they will be encouraged to elect more young people who are also African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian Pacific Islander or Women.

Q. The DNC Charter says youth, but the Delegate Selection Rules that the DNC passed don’t. Don’t we need to follow the Delegate Selection Rules?
A. The DNC Charter is the highest governing authority of the Democratic Party. No rules, at any level, can be passed that are in conflict with the DNC Charter. Just because the Rules are silent on youth, does not mean that the Charter which requires youth can be ignored.

Q. Didn’t the LGBT community and the Disability community try to make this change at the last DNC meeting and ended up settling for “suggested” goals rather than “required” goals?
A. They did attempt to be groups that goals were required for, rather than suggested. And, they did settle for language that “suggests” goals. However, neither of these two groups are listed in the DNC Charter for required Delegates.

Q. Do the Delegates actually choose who runs for President and Vice President for the Democratic Party?
A. Yes. The Convention formally nominates the candidates, and then each state places the names nominated by the Convention on the ballot under the Democratic Party. However, the process of electing those delegates begins long before July. So, even though the delegates don’t vote until July, most presidential candidates have enough delegates who have been elected early in the process, by March or April, so that it is clear who will have the majority of delegates at the convention. Similar to how members of the US House were elected in November. So we knew when they convened in January, there would be enough Democrats to elect Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. Most candidates will know before July if they have enough delegates to be nominated for President.

Q. What are “goals and timetables” for Delegate Selection?
A. Many groups have been under-represented in the Democratic Party leadership over the years. These groups include Women, African American, Hispanics, Asian Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, Youth, LGBT Americans, and Disabled Americans. States are required to set goals for electing a certain number of members for certain groups because in the past, these groups have been under-represented. Currently, the DNC Charter requires that states set goals for all of the groups mentioned except for LGBT American and Disabled Americans. The DNC formally suggests that goals be set for those two groups.

Q. Is a goal a quota?
A. A goal is specifically NOT a quota under the DNC rules. If a goal is set, the State Parties who elect Delegates, and the Presidential Candidates, who approve candidates who are running for Delegate to represent them at the convention, are required to do their best to ensure that the goals are met, or exceeded for full participation. However, the goal number provided is not a quota.

Q. What do you mean by “Democratic Electorate”?
A. This refers to the percentage of people that vote for the Democratic Candidate for President in the last election. It is not the same as the % of people that live in a state, because the people that vote Democratic are slightly different. So, if 100 people in State A voted for John Kerry. And 30 of those were under 36, then 30% of the Delegates to the next convention should be under 36. But, there are 300 people who live in the State, and 45 of those are under 36. Meaning that 15% of the State is young. But, because the young people that voted, voted 2 to 1 for Kerry, they have a higher percentage of the electorate than they do of the population.