Training | Utah Democrats

County Chair Training

UNIT 01

Neighborhood Caucuses

Four things you need to know:

Happens only in election (even) years
Elect Delegates to the County and State Conventions
Happens across the state on the same night
State Party provides all materials, County party provides space

Neighborhood caucus meetings are something that each county party must execute every two years. The neighborhood caucus meetings must be held on a date selected by the Utah State Democratic Party, which will be communicated to the county parties well in advance, and will always be during March of each election (even numbered) year. Depending on the size of your county, you may decide to hold several meetings across the county. For example, Salt Lake County typically holds one meeting for each legislative district in the county, where rural counties might hold just one meeting in the county seat.

The primary purpose of the neighborhood caucus meetings is to elect delegates to the county convention, but this is also a great time to collect updated contact information from the Democrats in your county. Several weeks prior to the caucus meeting night, you will receive a packet from the State Party containing a sample agenda, informational materials, and everything else you'll need to hold the meeting - including caucus attendee forms. A version of this packet will also be provided at the end of this handbook, for your reference. All the county party has to do is provide a location (or several locations) and administer the meeting.

It's important that every attendee fill out the caucus attendee form, even if they aren't interested in becoming a delegate; this form allows us to collect accurate information for each Democrat who attends, including updated contact information, volunteer interests they might have, and allows them to join an issue or membership caucus.

The State Central Committee will set the date for neighborhood caucuses in Quarter 3 or Quarter 4 2023.

UNIT 02

Conventions

There are two types of county conventions - organizing conventions (odd years) and nominating conventions (even years). All county conventions must occur prior to the State Convention. The two conventions are very similar in execution, but we'll outline them here separately.

County Organizing Convention

Three things you need to know:

Happens only in odd years
Elects county party officers
Great opportunity to discuss bylaws/constitutional changes
Appoint delegate vacancies

The primary purpose of an organizing convention is to elect county party officers. While bylaws and constitutions vary county to county, each county is required to have, at least, a Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary/Treasurer. In some rural counties, county parties may only have one or two of these positions filled. Delegates, who were mostly elected at the previous year's neighborhood caucus meetings, will be the eligible voters to elect county party leaders.

Organizing Conventions are also a great time to take care of any other party business. For example, organizing conventions are a good time for smaller counties to appoint delegate vacancies (since they will have been elected over a year ago, you're likely to have some vacancies), discuss and vote on any changes to your county constitution and bylaws, and get updates from the State Party about what's being done to help win bigger for the next election cycle.

In organizing years, there will also be elections held for State Democratic Party Executive Committee positions, so some of those candidates will likely try to make it to as many county conventions as possible. Organizing years are also a great time for State Party staff and current Executive Committee members to travel the state, so be on the lookout for some of those folks coming around. If your convention is a small one, it may be a good idea to allow all candidates who show up a time to speak. If it's larger, you may only want to allow the State Party Chair time to address your full convention.

It is wise to schedule the organizing convention so that it doesn't conflict with other conventions, and you may be more likely to have candidates and visitors from the State

Party if you group together with other counties in your area when scheduling, especially for counties in the southern half of Utah.

Letter From the Chair

First of all, thank you for your commitment to building and sustaining the Democratic Party in your community. You are truly the heart of our party, and your work at the grassroots level is invaluable. As a former county party leader, I understand how hard the work is, but I also understand how deeply important it is, and I want you to know that the Utah Democratic Party is here to support you.

You and I both know that there are no “off-years” in politics, least of all for state and county parties, and 2023 is no exception. The work we do this year will be essential building blocks for our success in 2024 and beyond, and that starts with leaders like you.

In order to build for lasting change, we must invest in building our party’s power at every level of government, in every county, and in every community. This year, we have exceptional opportunities across the state to elect municipal leaders who will fight for our values and strengthen our bench for future races, to begin recruiting and training candidates for 2024, and to build a grassroots movement for change in our state.

But it’s going to take all of us working together to make those things happen, which is why we are committed to investing in and supporting county parties and their leaders as you do the work every single day to build Democratic power in Utah.

Even though it might not always feel like it, what you do matters. Thank you again for all of your hard work and dedication.

Sincerely,

Diane Lewis

Utah Democratic Party Chair