Transcripts For CSPAN2 Democratic National Committee Unity Reform Commission Meeting Part 1 20171209

The Democratic Partys made changes to its rules and how it chooses Convention Delegates to the dnc Unity Reform Commission met in washington d. C. To consider changes that include reducing the number of superdelegates that can vote on the president ial nomination. Dnc chair tom perez gave the opening march the opening march of this meeting right, good morning everyone. Thank you all for being here. I serve as the chair and im joined by my friend larry cohen who is vice chair the commission and i hereby call the final meeting of the Reform Commission to order. I would like to first as the members and those with us to join for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america. And to the republic for which it stands one nation under god with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. I now ask you to call the roll. Thank you madam chair. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] we are missing a few Commission Members but we certainly have a quorum and i would like to start today by acknowledged in chairman perez who is here and we are very thankful for his participation. [applause] and more than that for his leadership of the Democrat National party so we are really glad to be here. Good morning everyone. Thank you. I want to start off by saying thank you for your hard work. This was a very important exercise it was laborintensive and came to it with an open mind and with a remarkable set of ideas so i want to say thank you to all of you but i want to say particular things tour cochair. We have been meeting regularly rainstorm and regularly and i cant say enough wonderful things about both of you. You have entered this enterprise with a spirit of old passion and a spirit of ingenuity in the spirit that understands this is the most serious test on our nations democracy perhaps in our history and the work of this Committee Commission is so critically important. Larry and jen thank you so much for what you have been doing. Its impossible to overstate the importance of the work that youve been doing and everybody else here has been doing. I come to you both with a sense of remarkable sobriety given what is happening in washington and around the country and the president and a sense of optimism born out of what we have seen on the ground. If you look at the chaos and carnage that we see every day from this administration and the stakes couldnt be higher. The tax bill that people like congressman fudge and others fought against an absolute abomination. It is a break for wealthy people people, wealthy corporations at the expense of virtually everybody else. 13 Million People potentially losing health care all in service to a taxcut for large corporations and wealthy people who dont need it. They tell us theres no money to reauthorize the state Childrens Health Insurance Program but yet they want to eliminate the estate tax which is said and for the 1 of the 1 . You see what is happening overseas where we have become a laughingstock around the world. Other countries have figured out how to handle this president. You roll out the red carpet and then you take him to the cleaners and thats what happened in china. That is what has happened elsewhere and get our allies in europe and elsewhere rather than having our back this administration stabs them in the back and thats why we are a much less safe country in a much less safe democracy and thats why this work is critically important moving forward. We all understand the seriousness and yet i come to you with a sense of optimism because as we have seen in 2017 will we can do when we are united in the last time we won the governors races in new jersey and in virginia in the same year was 2005. We saw what happened in the house of representatives a year later in 2006. We saw what happened in both new jersey and virginia but in other places. We saw what happened when we were united. We saw what happened when we organize. We organize early and we organized everywhere. We are going to places like virginia and say its for all and not a privilege for a few. Voters responded to that. It was the number one issue in virginia by far the Democratic Party crashed on that reason and that was a big reason we won in virginia and elsewhere. We have a lot to look back on in 2017 and it wasnt simply new jersey and virginia. We have proven we can win elections virtually anywhere for the special elections in oklahoma that took place this past summer, three special elections in deep red states what they all have in common is we won all three elections. Elections in New Hampshire had gotten hadnt gotten on the democratic side since 1984. A special election in florida where republican won last year by a doubledigit margin and won that race. We see what we do when we lead with their values and we see will we do when they organize and we see what we do when we listen. When we take the word off here are the lexicon of the Democratic Party. We have gone to school on many of the lessons of the state in the past on the lessons we have learned from the past is the mission of the Democratic National committee must always be to elect democrats up and down the ticket from the school board to the oval office and we have done just that. With the help of this commission we are going to be able to do that on an even bigger scale because the recommendations you have put forth today are remarkably important and moving forward as we turn the corner. I believe again democrats can win everywhere in partnership with their state parties. We call it every zip code counts because again we understand we can win everywhere and we have demonstrated that an election set of taken place this year. We also understand we have got to spend money on infrastructure. We havent spent a dime on television and the dnc. Our Summer Program led by deputy chair Keith Ellison wayne knocked down over a million doors to invite americans of all walks of life to join us. We made those investments in virginia up to about 1. 5 million in virginia. Again 0 20 to television every thing went into making sure the tax tools were there to help our friends in the progressive ecosystem and the same thing in new jersey. We were able to help people up and down the ticket. It was an honor to campaign on behalf of of candidates because as i said early on i dont simply want you to win, we wanted to govern in the best way to govern is to flip the house of delegates. The last time democrats won this many seats in the Virginia House of delegates was the late 19th century. It wasnt a coincidence. In the 15 republicans were about to become former members of the Virginia House of delegates are all men replaced by 11 women. Remarkable. History made including the first two latinas in the history of the Virginia House of delegates, the first asianamerican in the history of the Virginia House of delegates and the first openly transgender person in the history of the Virginia House of delegates. We can win elections when we are organized when we are running campaigns everywhere and when we leave with our values. That is the progress we have made. Thats the momentum. We need to scale back the money to make sure we are doing that everywhere in 2018. I was with the Democratic Attorney Generals Association yesterday and i was also with the dlc see yesterday again reiterating that message that the new Democratic Party has spoken up and down the ticket and where working to organize everywhere. I believe we can win everywhere and i believe we can win everywhere as long as we are continuing to organize and continuing to put in place the recommendation of this remarkable commission. As we shift into this commission i want to take just a moment to tell you some of the things we party put have already put in place because its really important. They are inspired by many conversations ive had with people in this room because we recognize we need to be looking towards 2017 which we have been doing but we also need to have an eye on the future. We need to build the party that can win today and sustain those victories tomorrow. We need to make sure we are preparing now for the 2018 election but we are also preparing ahead for the 2020 election and as we think about 2020 third many things that are very important. We have spent a lot of time learning the lessons of the past and learning from our mistakes. The areas where the dnc fell short. Its critically important and that starts now that the dnc does not put its thumb on the scale. Nothing the dnc or Party Officials do to give a primary candidate in unfair advantage. Toward that end we announced a while back that one innovation we are going to do to make sure we are true to that admonition is we are going to announce her to the schedule the democratic primary well in advance of when we know when who the candidates are so theres no perception that there is a thumb on the scale for any one candidate. I know there are other things we could do and thats why we have this commission and im committed to make sure that our fundraising agreements are transparent and available to all of the candidates. We need to make sure we give voters more opportunities to participate in our primaries and we are doing just that. The recommendations here on the primaries are some of the most important things we can do. It makes absolutely no sense to me to have a Voter Registration deadline on one day and the deadline to change or Party Affiliation that 60, 90 or 100 days earlier or even one day earlier for that matter. That makes no sense to me. I suspect that makes no sense to anyone on this commission and thats a really important reform reform. I look forward not only to adopting but implementing because its one thing to adopt and another thing to make sure we move forward with our recommendations. We also need to make sure that we remain vigilant in making sure we expand opportunities for people to develop and not contract them. Miro work as a civil rights lawyer has given me a front row seat to the fact that Voter Suppression is a permanent part of the republican playbook. The sooner we understand that the better we respond. They have been talking about this for decades, notches for months and theyve been implementing it through not. Not just voter i. D. Laws but many other provisions, vehicles are making it harder for eligible people to vote rather than easier. Thats why we need to make sure Voter Protection and Voter Empowerment defense and offense are part of our playbook and these recommendations by the commission and i commend the chair and the cochair for the work that they have done in this area because there are too many working people who cant vote in this. We have had a robust dialogue and i want to thank everybody who is working on the issue because obviously we want to make sure if you are a shift worker you can both a caucus and if youre a member of the military or someone else who has been left out of the process that we can do that, but you can vote in that you can make sure your franchise is exercised and its been remarkably important here. Opening up the caucus process consistent with the recommendations of the commission are going to be gamechanging. I applaud the work you have done done. As you know in 2016 superdelegate superdelegates made up 60 of delegates in the commission at the time when you are negotiating Unity Commission both secretary clinton and senator sanders agreed on the mandate to provide a significant reduction in the number of unpledged delegates and im excited about the fact the recommendations are going to reduce that by over 50 . That is so critically important. Finally and i shouldnt say it, should say finally if we want democrats to win and stay in power we have to reform our party in ways that will build it from the ground up. We need to put a down payment on that effort in grassroots organizing. We are going to continue this and again i want to commend mike called my colleague Keith Ellison. We have been making investments in our state party making investments in working with our colleagues within the ecosystem. Some of these organizations dont have the chief Technology Officer but what they have is Tremendous Energy and when we harness that energy and use our technology and use the tools that we have in the dnc thats a force multiplier because we all can see what we can all succeed previously son virginia and elsewhere we are at our best when we are united and when we have our oars in the water and we are rolling together. Thats where doing and thats why we are continuing to make sure we make these investments. Im proud of the fact that we are now providing every month to state parties but its not a blank check rates accompanied by accountability measures. We are working together with state hearties and political stakeholders in each state to develop a Strategic Plan for success that enables us to win not only this year but for many years to come. Part of the Technology Infrastructure we are building at the dnc. All of those things that enable us to work across the states to make sure we are empowering folks. We need to continue to empower them. Our diverse grassroots democrats at every level to make sure they have a seat at the leadership table. Lets build on our recent small dollar fundraising success and let stand by her pledge to ban corporate donations. We have come a long way but i wasnt born last night. We have got a long way to go in this commission is i think a critical part of that process moving forward. I am confident that senator kennedy once taught me, he taught me many things but he said you know tom we are at our best when we are united and in it he doesnt mean unanimity. We may not agree on everything but when we recognize what unites us far exceeds what our differences are thats when we are at our best. Thats why senator kennedy have such a distinguished career of accomplishments moving the ball down the field forward in families, making sure we protect the rights organize making sure we protect womens rights making sure we protect immigrants rights. When we move forward in that spirit and im confident we agree on many things here and im equally confident that there are areas where we still may have disagreements but i know what unites us far exceeds what our differences are. I know moving forward this report is going to make a big difference. You have my assurance. Im going to work with all of you to make sure. Today and the work you do today and tomorrow is the end of one chapter but its the beginning of an equally important chapter by chapter of implementation. I want to make sure when history looks back on your work, our work that history records a moment in which democrats came together around this issue of opportunity for everyone and empowerment in the community. Construction of a pathway not only for victory in 2018 but for longterm. Thats when we are at a vessel i want to say thank you to all of you and i look forward to hearing the final results. I have a lot of optimism moving forward as this is a big group of folks who know what our northstar is. Our northstar is taking back america making sure we build an america that works for everybody everybody, everybody in every community. When we do that we are at our best so thank you jen and thank you to larry and everybody on this commission for your great work. [applause] thank you so much mr. Chairman. As someone who has spent a good amount of time working on the party i just want to commend you and your team for the hard work you have undergone and the new evolution of the work you are doing across the country. I think seeing the amazing wins in virginia and the down ballot victory we are seeing in other places. We are here at the final meeting of the Reform Commission and i want to first start by saying thank you. As you can imagine this is not exactly the sexiest job that all of us do and it requires a lot of work. As i was explaining the commission to some of the other day is that this is a workers commission. Every Single Person here is putting in the time not just in Public Meetings but outside of them. To really think about hard sticky topics income up with soft wall ideas and solutions. I think you will see that throughout today and tomorrow but i just want to commend the commission for their participation their passion in what they what they believe in and on behalf of the party and the work here. Im really confident that what we are going to end up with after it today and tomorrows going to be a report that will help unify the party but will also bring major reform, greater reform that i have seen in my time doing political work and in a way that is 100 on the mark mandated to be more open and inclusive in thinking about grassroots participation. Im confident we are going to have a good state but i want to make sure we set the tone and everyone is here and everyone that is tuning and understands the work is behind a team of commission workers. I also wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has come today and many i see who have been there for many meetings. Thank you for your participation in being here but thank you for caring about this. Not just the folks that are here in person, we have thousands of outrage from people in the party across the party and across the country. People have input that they have shared to the web site and we have taken that very seriously. This is something obviously its about all of those. We thank everyone that is here today. As we have started this meeting i think about whats happening in the world and ensure what we are doing is not a silent effort but concrete to the reality. Unfortunately for every single meeting i have had too many things that the chair ed mentioned as well. We can point to the Trump Administration in the Republican Party that are taking away and hurting the people we care about and the values that we share. As we go through this process let us just remember as we sit here we have gone through in the last 10 days everything from the republican tax bill to more discussion on the muslim ban to the conceal and carry gun law and whats going on with streamers. The list goes on and on. I say that while we are, we know many things we are going to grant on many things were not going to agree and thats okay but let us not lose sight of whats most important whats happening in the responsibility we have the party has to build this party to open its doors wide and make sure people understand who this party is sent to it represents and the values we share and we win elections. We have done a good job in doing that so far and we need to continue that. What is at stake is beyond what any of us imagined for the situation so let us not lose sight of that. With that i am going to hand it over not someone who i have known very long for someone i feel like i have known my whole life, my great friend and forever friend on this commission that vice chair larry cohen. Thanks jen and we sit here between two chairs. I dont know what that feels like physically. Arose between two points. Its great to be here with everyone and i want to echo the thanks that have been given here and we need to stay rooted in that in these times. Everybody in the room whether you are on this commission are not feel deeply that we need to fight for change in this country like never before and i know everybody feels that this party is a major vehicle for all of us for doing that. I think its in that spirit that we spent the last six months as a group and a little more than that for gemini to figure out given this resolution that would need to constantly remind yourself the resolution was passed which unanimously passed 4500 delegates. Didnt matter if you got there as a sanders delegate or clinton delegate to unanimously passed and it has a lot of boundaries and that lays out the core direction that we will be talking about today or the forbes rockets as tom called them in the opening session. At the same time this is really a call for all of us to engage what i call Party Building not just here in terms of what we are going to adopt but in terms of what we each do in each of our parties whether its democrats or whether its in the territory are one of the 50 states. I would really stress that because a lot of things we are going to talk about indicate what should happen. Thethe only way to go from what should to it well is thousands of people saying this must happen. Finally probably no time will be spent on the introduction but if somebody who deeply believes in this introduction i just want to call attention to it. Couple of lines. Democrats must act internally to model her commitment and belief that every vote must count. Democrats cannot wait for a new Supreme Court or wait for new congress. This is really key because a lot of this is about the caucus and a primary about the state parties and how are they run. And even the socalled superdelegates. Its really about are we going to build the popular party. Not one party this as we learned in the first meeting we are 57 parties and we have an obligation to follow the path. Together we have laid out in those 57 parties in the 447 members of the dnc so i would say for me and most of this commission we will mobilize and we will encourage all of you to mobilize. If we do mobilize and build a more doma credit transparent open Inclusive Party thats the way we will win elections and thats the way we will win elections in a way that matter. Its not just the Democratic Party. If the Democratic Party that fights for Economic Justice and many of us grew up in places in my state philadelphia where we didnt have the kind of Democratic Party when i grew up. Its a lot to me in a personal level and we continued out riding together we can do that. Finally as the chairman said we will not agree on everything but you will see those of you who couldnt bear to stay in the room long enough we will reon far more than we disagree on and whether you are here as a journalist or an agitator ordered organizer thats a key lesson to success. We would dwell on this and whether was bargaining or internal its very easy to look at whats not in the cut. Better look at what is in the cup first and then at whats missing. I look forward to the debate discussion adoption and building a better party than ever. Thank you. [applause] v thank you so much, larry. Let me spend a few minutes talking about the process and then we are going to get started started. I forgot to say one thing if i could for one moment. There are a number of folks on the dnc staff that worked really hard. They often toil in anonymity. They are working long into the night and it includes but is not limited to patrice taylor. If i could indulge you to give it up for all these people who have worked so hard. Folks in the back there. Patrice over there and the folks that have it working can you all stand up because we want to say thank you. Julie in the back, i see you there. Thank you so much for what you are doing. This stuff doesnt just happen out of thin air. Happens as a result of really hard work from some really talented people so thank you and thank you to dnc members and members of the audience. Its always inspiring to see the serial activists who care so much. I think that is tremendous that we have so much interest out there. That is one of the many things that gives me great optimism moving forward because the energy i see in the back of this room here is mirrored across america. Thank you to all of you who have chosen to come here and thank you all who are watching the live stream or however we are doing that. Without i apologize i have to go to another event but i will be monitoring carefully. Thank you. [applause] i was remiss not to give my thanks to the staff and someone who not only help me in the change commission but now has helped us in the community with Reform Commission. We are going to spend the remaining hours of the day and tomorrow in our fifth meeting going through recommendations. We have broken down our main areas. The focus of this commission and for specific areas primaries, caucuses, unpledged delegates and party reform. That will be the structure that we take everything in throughout today and tomorrow and we have been over the series of meetings we have had over the last year. In those meetings as many of you know we have been going through robust discussion on topics hearing from experts panelists from different states getting into the weeds on whats really happening in how the commissions mandate is part of that. What we are discussing today is a product of all of that work and the discussions we have had over the past year. The topics we are discussing in elements we are discussing are focused on those areas and not just the business but the fixed end of a work to commission is done to bring it forward. Well spend today going through those and we will go as long as we can. We will vote on everything we can vote on half the discussion. We will break it. Stranded and pick up again tomorrow. Then i will have an opportunity to hear from Commission Members to share their final thoughts for the earth about this commission we will spend some time just talking about the process and what happens from here and how does that work in terms of the commission itself and the rules in the bylaws of dnc. That gives you a bit of the flavor for how we are dancing and we will go through the day based on our needs and discussions. With that well get started will start with unpledged delegates which are referred to as superdelegates in our first section. This is going to be the first area discussion. This will be the format we will go through today. I will give a couple of key elements and then we are going to open it up to amendments recommendations a discussion from Commission Members and then we will go through and vote on the recommendations. Just to keep highlighting we want to spend the majority today on substance and not on overview but we have spent a lot of time and with much discussion on unpledged delegates and as larry mentioned voted on unanimously by over one who is there which means larry points out it doesnt matter where you came from. That convention has the highest voting body good will he take the voter mandate seriously and has resonance in terms of how we think throughout unpledged delegates. In terms of the recommendations i table today we are looking at a series. The commission agrees democratic members of congress and governors distinguished Party Leaders remain unpledged delegates and all Party Officials have a role in the execution of the primary. The Commission Recommends the creation of three categories of automatic delegates. One remains unpledged and on the first ballot for the president ial roll call. The commission has provided three options for addressing an automatic delegate for the rbc to consider. Those are both option a pledged dnc member and alternate voting option and the pledged optional dnc member voting option. Obviously theres a lot there a lot to discuss. Thats where we will start but we will go through, we are not going to go through everything and was there something we want to invest. With that im going to open it up to the commission and ask for Commission Members again to focus on solely unpledged delegates and if they want to raise amendments or edits they can start the process. Madam chair. Thank you madam chair. I want to move to advance this amendment starting on page three line 33 and to add to the end of the paragraph and decreased undue influence real or received the unpledged delegates have on the outcome of the nominating process. Discussion on that. Thank you larry. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible] [inaudible] we are still on the amendment that i propose. The Democratic Party confessed that there was undue influence in 2016 in my biggest concern in adding this amendment is that this amendment shows that we recognize the undue influence real or perceived. A lot of times it essentially becomes reality. There is such a thing called the invisible primary. To depress some of the voter turnout particularly in california where i was there. I was there when that happened so i want to keep the amendment appeared the way that i introduce it to you. Fact is procedurally i will second the amendment so we can proceed with the discussion. It hasnt been seconded yet so its seconded now. To vote on my amendment. Is there any other discussion . Apparently my microphone wasnt working. Did you hear my amendment . Let me add in support of nina turners amendment the term undue influence is followed by rullo perceive i think the concern is dealt with adequately by real or perceived and i dont think theres any reason to alter the amendment. To be clear my proposed amendment still stands. We are going to vote on my amendment. All those in favor please raise your hand. We have 10 raised so it passes. Im sorry, all those not in favor. I am asking again, im sorry. This is my first time doing this this. All those opposed the amendment to strike and do please raise your hand. Okay so we have 104, six against the my recommendation to amend a knott. So now we need to vote on the amendment. All those in favor all those opposed. We are going to stay with unpledged delegates and move on additional amendments that members have. Jeff weaver. I move to adopt an amendment i submitted to page three line 39. Which everybody has in their packet. I will explain it for two seconds and go on. People came to this commission with a wide range of views on the appropriate role of unpledged delegates at the democratic convention. We were given a mandate by the convention 2016 the highest authority the Democratic Party in this commission has worked within that framework despite the fact that people came to this and still had widely just just disparate views. Others had different. This amendment expresses the range of views that are held by the commission. I second. Discussion on this. Seeing none discussion we will put to a vote. All those in favor. Its unanimous. The amendment is adopted. Other amendment . Madam chair . If everybody else is going to be shy maybe ill just move your mind. Amendment number seven page four, line 13 again this is another amendment that expresses the diversity of the committee with respect to the role of elected officials. The unofficial role of elected officials in the primary process process. There was some discussion about what their role should be and whether folks should be encouraged to voluntarily by themselves in the outcome of whatever elected them. We went around on this and there were some discussion about whether that was an appropriate thing to do to get elected officials to bind themselves to their constituents. Some felt it was appropriate in some felt it was not in some felt and i put myself in that category that would be impractical or often impossible to force a gag rule on elected officials so this mirrors the diversity on the topic. Im happy to read the amendment or someone else can read it. I am happy to read it. [inaudible] go ahead. Im happy to read that the current amendment is amendment number seven page four, line 13 replace the last sentence with the following text. Some on the commission did not leak preventing our elected officials from participating in the primary process is a necessary or useful to our party while others believe mandating such a rule would be impractical or impossible to enforce. Appointed inquiry. By bylaws it should be public. The public has taken time to come and watch the draft does not have to be public. So its more a question of the format and this is very messy so i think what well do is make sure everybody is reading out of making clear what their specific amendment is. In response if they dont heed with the initial commentary was to what has been written its very confusing. I think thats an important point. There was a line in the report draft that said the commission does not believe preventing our elected officials from participating in a primary russ is necessary to our party. That sentence states one point of view and what i understand jeffs amendment to be is to expand that sentence to express the diversity of views among the commission and there were people on the commission who had that point of view that it was not that yet necessary is full to do that. Are people on the commission you think it is useful and necessary to do that and they are also a third group on the commission who believe even if you thought it was useful but cant effectively that so i think the language is intended to encompass all three views produce accurate . That is accurate and that there was some discussion before about taking a minor tweak to this and i would ask unanimous consent to make that edit right here and to read it again as edited. The replacement sentence would now read, some on the commission did not believe preventing our elected officials from is necessary useful tour party while others do. Others believe mandating such a rule would be impossible or impractical or impossible to enforce. Think now we have encompassed sort of all three views on this. Those who think its a good idea and those who think its a bad idea and those who think regardless of whether its a good or a bad idea it typical or impossible. Madam chair i want to make sure that all the points are encompassed by also want to make sure the people who certainly believe there should denote delegates whatsoever or for him delegates they should be all bound by what happens, i heard no one say elected officials should not be allowed to participate in the process. If you participate in the process one way or the other either as a delegate or is in the a lot did but the point is that they should not have undue influence over the process. That was really the major point not whether or not elected officials who participate or not participate because they do participate. Madam chair. Senator turner there was discussion about whether we should make some attempt and i dont use that term for george are lovely to muzzle electives prior to the election and thats the issue we are talking about here in terms of endorsements. There were some people who held that view that election should hold their public view and tell the voters have spoken. Some had an alternate view in some felt regardless it would be impossible so thats whats being expressed here. If there is no objection i would like to vote. All those in favor of the amendment raise your hand. Its unanimous. Its unanimous so the amendment is adopted. Go ahead. Hi. Let me try to be helpful here. These amendments for folks who have come to observe are not going to make total sense by a longshot long shot. When we are done with the amendments we will go to the main points for adoption and then that will make sense. We have to with all policies focus on having a dot demint versus it making sense to the audience. Our rules are that we have to debate in public no matter what we are doing. Thats what we are doing but its not like this is a coherent presentation if you havent been one of us and is vice chair i apologize for that. The second part of this is going to make more sense than the first part because we are going to come back and then say point by point what we are adopting. Thats going to make more sense. These are changes in the draft for us. I would add that we will be voting on every specific recommendation in each section and we will read that aloud before we vote. And just procedurally when we have a platform we had a draft. Women have amendments to that draft they went up on the screen so viewers could see them especially those watching. I see no reason why we cant add the wine document that cant be up here. Think its respectful to the audience and its helpful for those who are here. Secondly if we are not going to do that theres a procedure i would suggest we adopt which is to begin by saying in line for on page whatever, where it says and then we state what it says, i want to change it what the amendment is. I think to not do that is to literally say come to view a process that you have no idea what the process is so i think we either need to put the line edits up where we have to make it clear what the edits are all about before we have a vote simply so people know whats going on. And thats what we are asking everyone to do but what we will also do when we are voting on the final recommendations in each section we will put them up as amended. Then everyone will be able to see that. We will read through them and then we will vote on them. I think that serves helping aaron quinn be exactly know what the final product is we are voting for but i do agree with jim. I want to go back to page four, line 11. So will be replaced be encouraged to voluntarily with also . So the whole section reads the commission has discussed extensively the role of unpledged delegates outside their voting role at the dnc, some have suggested of place delegates will be required to withhold any endorsement until after votes in the respective state have been cast or indicates the elected officials that unpledged delegates be encouraged to voluntarily find themselves to the will of the voters they were president. So in that one would want to replace be encouraged to voluntarily with also. To also bind themselves. Any discussion . Say no discussion and we can move people. All those in favor please raise your hand. Unanimous support. The amendment is adopted. Any other amendments for unpledged delegates section. Yeah, i have a series of technical amendments that are here and i asked to offer them and block so that theyre not controversial. Amendment 11, 12, 15, 16 and 17. You want to offer that en bloc as well . Fourteen will be assigned if that will be as controversial. This seeks to clarify the section on how unpledged previously unpledged delegates will be allocated for the new formula which finds folks to the outcome of the election. Eleven and 12 deal with how we put people in different categories on the priority is categories because there are some superdelegates worst piglets for more than one reason and so we are going to prioritize the priorities they are in and the amendment 14 merely says that we hope the rbc and a consultant in way with the members of the commission and also it points out that we look at some other options inside the options we suggested in terms of how we find the delegates and with some of those that we projected will greatly increase the number of pledged delegates at the convention and so we didnt adopt those and amendment 15 make sure that we use were found rather than pledged because pledge means something specific it and calling the newly found previously unpledged delegates pledged also was confusing and so we should call it that in use the term down because it means Something Different and number 16 changes own place with respect to the rbc. The number 17 is purely technical just to make sure the folks understand that the process will be integrated into the way votes are cast at the convention. Its a very technical amendment in that way and i would ask that the adoption of those moments unlock and id be happy to answer any questions. Second the motion. Affirmative spirit yes, there are some very complicated provisions in here with how this process works in the recommendation on unpledged delegates and i would like to ask the commission to basically allow jeff and myself and anyone else who would like to collaborate to review one more time the specific language and come back to this commission with perhaps a somewhat more concise but still very accurate discussion of how the process will work for dealing with the unpledged delegates. Just for clarification that is specific to the category execution of the voting so i guess number 5a, b and c is the piece that is the only part of it that you are asking to have more time to rework the language in via. Yes, so i would move the adoption of the amendment and i think we can make a unanimous consent request ever that that allows some revision to the technical aspects of this will allow us to replenish to the commission tomorrow out of the normal order. Okay. Any further discussion on just amendment . See no discussion i just want to clarify make sure i understand. We will vote on your technical amendments and then you and jeff are and whoever else are proposing that the with we look at the section with your technical amendment and potentially will come back to something tighter and thats on the table. Okay. We can discuss that latter part of the want to talk so we want to clear okay. All those in favor of the amendment, please raise your hand. Unanimous support. The amendment is adopted. Madam chair, i ask unanimous consent following this meeting that mr. Berman and myself in any other interested Committee Members meet to discuss the technical aspects of implementation of the mandate. To unpledged delegates and be able to percent the inclusion of those discussions out of order tomorrow during these proceedings. Any objection track hearing on, for it. Further amendments to the unpledged section. Do you want an amendment to adopt the section as amended . Okay. So we will move to go through and vote on each recommendation and we will need a minute here before we get them up on the screen. But, as everyone else, we both go vote by vote and then well go from there. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] we were never told the time or the this meeting and you know this is a tainted meeting and yet when a few people appear out how to participate you want to take a sign away. This underscores the problem with the challenge the dnc is not learned that lessons of the past. If it is so threatening of the time that Democrat Party or unDemocratic Party question this behavior of trying to kick people out and try to take away their signs underscores perhaps the question all of the Commission Members need to respect those who are here and you could take your seat and hold your sign we are all comfortable with that. I think all the commission are you all okay with that . Thank you. Thank you. We deeply respect the grassroots are here. Yes, please return the sign and then you can return to your seats. Thank you. One of my signs has we need to have statements and suggestions as well. Another of my recommendations is to get money out of politics and make that our number one priority of the Democratic Party. Another of my suggestion was that we need to do everything we can to prevent dnc favoritism. Thank you. Thank you. We will try to get your sign back and we appreciate your support in your comments and we take your comments seriously and appreciate yours. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] can i make one comment for the record . Chairwoman . Chairwoman . Can i make a comment for the record . Yep. Hopefully for future commissions we will have an opportunity to have the public come and testify because it is something weve heard over and over. I know there was an open there was a forum that people could write their answers and their suggestions. Dont believe any of us saw the results of so id like the record reflect that we never received those and hopefully in the future we will have an opportunity to listen to public testimony because it is important. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i will ask one more time if there any additional amendments in the unpledged dissection . Madam chair . Yes, poor number nine page four, line 32. So it reads right now the Commission Recommends the dnc work to ensure that all Party Officials who have a role in the execution of the actual primary caucus process in their state must be scrupulously neutral both in reality and in perception in their administration of electrical activity and i moving to amend that to say will so instead of work to they will ensure, second amendment. Any discussion. Seeing no discussion will move people. All those in favor. Unanimously the amendment is adopted. Madam chair, another amendment. Page four, line 35. We want to add to the end of that paragraph that any page four, number ten, line 35 we are adding to the end of the paragraph any person who violates this important commitment to impartiality could be subject to loss of delegate status or any other privilege they may hold at the dnc. So we are adding at the end of the entire paragraph so that everyone in the audience. I second the amendment. Seen no discussion, although movable. All those in favor. Unanimous. Its adopted. Any additional amendments . Great. [inaudible conversations] okay we will be putting up the recommendations starting on page four. [inaudible conversations] okay. I will read this the first one and then we can move forward with that. Recommendation number one under unpledged delegates the commission concurs with the determination of the 2016 footer neil Democratic National convention that the reduction of over 400 unpledged delegate votes equaling nearly 60 of the total unpledged delegates for 2016 will strengthen the grassroots role in our president ial nominating process and it is important to the commission that the grassroots voice in the president ial nominating process be amplified. Any discussions . [inaudible conversations] madam chair . I think it would be helpful to clarify for people watching online and those in the audience who we are removing the superdelegate status for. Right . So clarification of purposes that essentially means all these state level dnc members so state chairs, vice chairs, dnc Committee Member and dnc Committee Women the remaining superdelegates will be the members of congress, governors and other distinguished Party Leaders so i just want to make clear that those are going to be the remaining superdelegates and all the other statelevel folks who were superdelegates will continue to be delegates to the convention but their vote will be tied other primary or caucus voted. I think we expressly state that in the second, the next one we will adopt. Are prepared to vote on one . Okay. All those in favor of one please raise your hand. Recommendation is adopted. Okay we will move to number two. In regards to current unpledged delegates the commission concurs the 2016 Democratic National committee in that democratic members of congress, governors and distinguished Party Leaders remain automatic delegates and unpledged on all matters before the convention and that dnc members remain automatic delegates but that their vote be pledged only with respect to the first ballot of the president ial rollcall vote. Okay. Ready to move to vote . Madam chair can i ask unanimous consent of the word pledged in that second to last sentence and all throughout be changed in this context to found . And that it be conformed from the document. But not when we call people pledged or unpledged meaning that the old system was but meaning in terms of the casting the new previously unpledged, so now becoming Something Else and we should call them bound as opposed to pledged to describe their status is bound to a post pledged is a great confusion with those who are elected in the primary caucus process who are in fact pledged delegates in the rules. To be call them bound delegates its Something Different. The only question i have for you is are there other things that were not bound on meeting were finding them for specific purpose and we want to make sure that is changed throughout we go these votes in the later paragraphs it is clear that they are found only with respect to the first bound of the president ial nominating balloting and theyre not bound to respect any other issue so we are making that as long as that is the effect that yeah, yeah. Theyll be honest we talk about pledge or bound were talking about two different groups of people. Why cant there be [inaudible] thank you for your comments this is been a long process where we talk to this so we will move see no discussion from the commission to a vote on number two. All those in favor. Unanimous, we are adopting number two. Were going to move to number three and im going to read this from the screen and im not updated my eyeglass prescription in about a year and a half so hopefully i can see this. I will work on this after this Commission Meeting for the Commission Recommends that the dnc will ensure that all Party Officials who have a role in the execution of the actual primary or caucus process and their state must be scrupulously neutral both in reality and in perception and their administration of electoral activities. Any person who violates this important commitment and partiality could be subject to loss of delegate status or other privilege they may hold at the dnc. Any discussion . Im very much in favor of this amendment but i want to point out that we already have in the delegate selection rules in fact a stronger check on this even then this language. Which is the ability of someone to challenge implementation of an accepted delegate selection plan. So that means that if the state Party Chairman gets the plan accepted and approved by the dnc and then violates their plan in order to try to sway the process to a candidate or another guess what . They will have to undergo a challenge from people in the group so while this is fine i just want to point out to everyone that this is actually a much tougher remedy that weve always used. But just to clarify this is not in conflict anything that we already have . Of it. [inaudible] okay. Any discussion . See no discussion we will move about. All those in favor. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] okay. Unanimous. Okay. All right. Moving on to number four. The Commission Recommends creation of three categories of automatic delegates, one of which remain unpledged and two of which would be found on the first ballot of the president ial rollcall. For a category one democratic members of congress, governors and distinguish Party Leaders remain automatic delegates and unpledged. 4b, category two, state elected dnc members, dnc members elected as a state chair, vice chair, state Committee Man or woman, who are not part of category one would remain automatic delegates. However, on the first ballot of the president ial rollcall vote their vote will be proportionally allocated based on the outcome of the primary or caucus in the state which elected them. 4c, category three, officers at large and affiliated members were not party that are not so okay. Both in b and c can we change party to parts . Okay. Were not part of category two or three would remain automatic delegates however on the first ballot of the president ial rollcall vote their vote be proportionally allocated based on the natural outcome of that primaries and caucuses. Any discussion . Senator turner. Thank you madam chair. On those points even though it significantly reduces the number of superdelegate it is still my opinion that this party needs to work to abolish a twotier system that this sets up between the grassroots and the party states and those who have titles, fancy titles to make those title people more important than the grassroots. With respect to those titles because im one of them and i dont think the Democratic Party should be in the business of setting up a twotier system all of the supertarget should be treated exactly the same. It does reduce the number but it does create a twotier system and part of that system most of the grassroots are a Diverse Group in terms of ethnicity and gender and more Diverse Group that found in the group that is not bound. [applause] any discussion . Clarifying question. If there is a democratic member of congress or the Singers Party leader that is also the state chair or one of these other bound categories what rule it applies to them . Category one. So that was the point of one of the members i offered was to clarify how this works because there are number of people who have superdelegate status by virtue of being a member of congress and elected dnc member and so you go through it by number so if youre in qualify under category one then you qualify under another category are treated as category one. That brings up concerns then because if im a member of congress and im sure my party im supposed to be neutral as chair of my party and the president ial primary process but if i belong to category one i dont have to be neutral. Well you remain unpledged you may still have to be neutral by other rules. We just pastoral on impartiality in the requirement of impartiality. This is solely, jane, with respect with what you to do on the first ballot of the president ial of the first voting a president ial ballot at the convention on the president ial nomination thats what this is about. Youre only unpledged respect those people in category one on the first ballot are unpledged respect to the first round ballot of the president ial nomination and they may be bound by other rules which require them in the operation of state party to be neutral, right . But at the convention they can vote for whomever they want on the first ballot. Right. Number three would take it affect the neutrality that you have to have a pivotal role in executing and that would be adopted. Okay. Any further discussion we will vote on these 4a, 4b, 4c so three votes under four. We will move to the vote. All those in favor of 4a, please raise your hand. Madam chair . I am abstaining on the vote on four and five because this comes with rules of the bylaws. As five acknowledges the rules and Bylaws Committee may come to a different conclusion which come back to this Unity Reform Commission and im going to abstain so that i can conduct a full and open discussion. Im not expressing opposition to it. This is an issue im going to raise later but i have a sense that there are a number of issues here that are going to come with rules and Bylaws Committee. In the interest of fairness that im not opposed to members of this body will be on the rules and Bylaws Committee voting on his body but i do think they should recuse themselves for being the discussion when it occurs for the rules and Bylaws Committee so fundamental fairness in the optics are also problematic when there would be debates here and people would fall under besides of this but then go to the rules and Bylaws Committee and then vote on it in the rules and bylaws 20. I will raise it later but i just think that ji thank jim for makt but i think they should be able to vote now but they shouldnt be up to vote again and. My view is the mirror image of that. I want to lead a full and open discussion at that point which is why im not voting now. Okay. And sticking with where we are still in the middle of counting votes here. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] all those in favor please raise your hand to make sure we have the right counts. Everyone, please, raise your hand if you are in favor of for a period. We are we doing this because someone asked for us to redo it so we can make sure we have the right count. [inaudible conversations] although supposed. We have one other thing. [inaudible conversations] i know you guys can do it. [laughter] okay. Distinguished Party Leaders include former president s former leaders of the party. Of the national party. Yes. No. Okay. Were going to move to vote on 4b, all those in favor please raise your hand. For me, all those in favor. 4b. All those in favor. Unanimous with one abstention. Pulled vote on the 4c and all those in favor, please raise your hand. Unanimous with one abstention. Okay. Next we have number five and this is what we were asked for unanimous consent earlier that we were going to have members of this commission update the language and bring this back later to vote on the were not going to vote on site. Yes. Okay. So, with that we have closed of the votes on unpledged delegates section. Okay. Primaries. Primaries. Again, in the resolution itself some boundaries were set and lots of work has been done on this for folks were here there are really two principles and you hear the recommendations for the two principles are that this party must be inclusive and at the same time it needs to be Party Building. So what these action items really are saying and you heard from chairman perez we are going to push to the limit and youll hear this again when we get to caucus same day. Same day registration, same day Party Registration. At the same time there is Party Registration so we can do Party Building. With that, basically what we are looking for here is there will be some expanded use of primaries you will see and again, some of this will make more sense we hear about caucuses. It means primaries versus caucuses. So there will be some expanded use of state run primaries. We will require states and the word is required in this will depend on what you will do in your state to use sameday or automatic Voter Registration. We will require states to you same date party searching. Require. We will resist attempts at Voter Suppression or disenfranchisement. This being by our parties. It is not just about the party that may control 20 or 36 states and we will allow voters to switch parties at least as late as the deadline for registering to vote. At least as late. We will develop a strategy to educate voters in states with confusing timelines. Many states for Voter Registration and Party Affiliation, seven dnc publicly report on the efforts to secure the changes in items one to six and not just adopt it and it goes away. Number eight, the rules and Bylaws Committee and the dnc itself should review the allocation of national delegates. Number nine, the rules and Bylaws Committee shall modify the requirements for what is term of art in their rules. Provable, positive steps that include legal remedies, means litigation. Now we will discuss each recommendation which may include amendments. If amendments are offered and you saw this in less action we will vote on the amendments and then come back to the action items. So, i will now open the floor for Commission Members for amendments. We can start with amendment to section one. Any amendments . Vice chair, i have an amendment. Go ahead. This would create with the purpose of of the amendment to the dnc and the parties to require them to use everything in their power to open up democratic president ial nominating primaries to not alliance with voters known as independent voters and would impose the same penalties on the states who do not do that as would be imposed under the provision already in the document from changing party and having earlier party searching deadlines and Voter Registration. I could read meet the amendment in the entirety would be helpful. Where it would be placed we could add a new number or a new chapter or new paragraph number in the amendment reads as following the democratic [inaudible] the show use all means encouraging including encouraging legislation changing party rules and undertaking litigation to require the states permit nonaligned voters also known as independent or no Party Preference voters to participate in a democratic president ial nominating primary with respect to any state that does not permit nonaligned voters to participate in the democratic president ial nominee party. Party shall be amended to oppose appropriate penalty which could include a reduction in the number of pledged delegates to the Democratic National state would otherwise be entitled or potential adjustments to the state party support. State parties that are able to demonstrate that all probable cause of the steps including litigation as determined by the rules and Bylaws Committee has been undertaken to require the nonaligned voters that were not successful in those efforts not be penalized in that language tracks language that is already in there again with respect to those states is party changed lines and Voter Registration deadlines are not permanently aligned. I was going to go in order and this is number five, action number five for members of the commission and if you could just indicate so lets consider what is here now five and lets consider this five a. Because youre adding another section and it might be useful if you could describe what is different if anything between five a this language and five. Of course. Let me go to that page page 11, number five will come back to this in any case. A lot of discussion will be in the process and chairman perez said he left he said democrats need to expand opportunities for eligible voters to participate in every level. The underlined draft of this will make a substantial positive change in terms of an franchising people who have been disenfranchised by the process for i would point in particular to the outrageous example of new york state which has a party switch deadline that is was ahead of what the Voter Education deadline is anything everyone on the Commission Found that there was really no basis for having that dispiriting deadlines. What is in five would require that states align their party switch deadlines Voter Registration so that you can switch parties at least as late as when you have to register to vote. The amendment im offering would add a new segment which would also put us on record in the Democratic Party and record as supporting as another option the participation of what are currently called nonaligned voters or independent voters in the democratic primaries across the country and as you know the vast majority of states in fact do allowed the participation of nonaligned voters and some notable expections are in the northeast but not exclusively in new york and pennsylvania and delaware, maryland and outside of that environment florida and arizona being two other states that have closed to allow [inaudible] arizona is im not sure if they allow the im happy to speak to this amendment if someone will second this. I second it. Discussion on what we will now call 58. Five will remain and this will be 5a in repeats much of the language of five but basically adds that even at the time of voting they dont need to have Party Identification in other words the languages are not aligned and the remaining nylon hundred nonaligned to the voting process versus what you see in the other nine items discussion . We ask independent voters to vote for a president ial candidate post primary and we also ask for their vote in the primary as well and i think that a lot of young people especially young people of color are choosing to identify as an independent right now because they dont have confidence in the Democratic Party and i think that this is a very strong bridge that we are building to prove to those voters that we need and want them in the party and it is my hope that if they are independent now engaged in the president primary that they then become a proud democrat but this is one way we can bring them into a party. [applause] anyone who is willing to elaborate on how we hold the state parties accountable for instance in new york state as an example the state party is almost completely controlled by a body that is chosen by the governor so how would we make sure to hold a state like that accountable . That issue will come up for all nine points. So if if youd like just to talk about them in terms of 58 we have that issue for all nine. As with the other provisions that larry had said we could change party rules and we could go to legislators undertake litigation as the testimony that we received from the new york state official the new York State Party of new york said to them we want the democratic primaries to include nonaligned voters they would do that automatically without any legislation whatsoever in new york and if i could speak more broadly about the amendment that the Gallup Research from 2016 in generations 42 of all voters are nonaligned voters, democrats are only 29 of voters and if you break down of course if you go deeper with independence many of them align with one party or the other and 60 of that Percentage Points of that 42 are in fact democratically aligned voters so if you look at that total number of democrats and democratic aligned voters which comes about 45 fully one third of those are democratically aligned independence so when we close primaries we are looking out a third of the Democratic Base and this is particularly troublesome for young people where over 50 of young people are choosing to register as independents. A few research from 2014 showed that of millennials do not identify with the democrats or republicans with highest among latinos at 29 . We are locking out young people of color. When you look at independents who are democratically leaning the demographic would be independents and these are those who participate in our process and its 31 of africanamerican and hispanic millennials are being influenced by the democratic primary process in states that have close primaries. That is a higher number than White Millennials your locking in 23 because its a much larger number of White Millennials are republican leaning. A process which blocks out democratic leaning young people is disproportionately affecting young people of color. I would say also with respect to that we see across races we do see among older voters we see among older voters we do see that they are much more likely to register with one of the parties but even so latinos spee9 and older over 29 are not aligned with any party. I thank you were going to grow this party particularly in bringing in young people and those of us who worked in the online world letters of engagement and how you bring people and easiest way to get people in on the letter of engagement with the Democratic Party is to allow them to participate in our president ial nomination process. It is a small minority of states which has this close primary role and i think its time to bust open and bring young people in, people of color and working people back into the Democratic Party. [applause] just a point of clarification. Five which is already in their allows and recommending and encourages unaffiliated voters to vote but says sameday registration and the only difference is that they would need to register their vote as a democrat in order to participate that day. I just wanted to say for the one thats already in their its not precluding or does encouraging anyone to be unaffiliated not show up the distinction here between five and 5a is whether or not they declare as a democrat to vote or train in the democratic primary. This is not a substitution district to comment on the amendment. Just to bounce off of what mr. Weaver just said. There was an nbc pool issued last week saying that 71 of those under the age of 36 want a third party and i think we have a real opportunity here with this amendment if you vote in favor of it to show that the Democratic Party and these are photos that are lined with the values in the Democratic Party is taking this generation seriously and i think this will be a bit bold step moving forward to bring those people back into her party. So, i think that is very hard to say that the reason latino young latinos are not engaged with this is because of this and i think we can look at all sorts of things that the Democratic Party hasnt done or needs to do in order to get engaged and i dont think this is it. I think this is the Democratic Party and if you want to vote in the primary you should be a democrat. That is ultimately what it should be. Have the ability to buy was an independent and all of a sudden i had to focus on a day this amendment or the way it states now is that i would show up change my Party Affiliation to democrat, vote in it and still participate. Im glad were having this discussion how to engage on people and how to engage young latinos seeing that these numbers are shocking but i think there other strategies that we need to look at and i think there are other things were trying to address in order to bring these people in. Can i respond to that . If you dont mind, there is an order here and ill be on the list. Number one impediments. Blocking people from voting is not been able to vote. Theres been a lot of research and i understand your point and i agree with you is to do a lot to engage in minorities and minority communities. Coming from new york city in particular the areas where there are more impediments to registering to vote in getting people to vote is where at the party doesnt exist and of course the close primary and those communities of color. I think these two things going in at hand but we make these comments about republicans and were doing their own policies so we have to take that into consideration. Theres research the process. I will yield you to wonder. I think it goes to for not blocking anyone from voting because that they will have voter registrar people and say that they change their party and they voted that day and i dont think that is saying well, i hear your point on new york and i think we always read it in that something we should address and i think that this commission is doing but were not blocking anyone from voting. Giving people the opportunity to before asking them to be democrats in order to help the democratic primary. I want to have a point of order here between nine items that aim at that because theres a moment on this one which attracted it. Got it back youll hear that kind of comment over and over again. Mr. Weaver. I just like to say that the real issue is widely disagreement of voters from state to state. A voter in virginia both for the democratic primary sports democratic candidate and gives money to Democrat Party but thats a voter because he doesnt have a piece of paper in his pocket and the voter in new york has to have that piece of paper in his pocket. This will begin to try to make voters have a particular piece of paper in order to vote, not democrats. Member louise. Recalling the question and we will vote on calling the question. Anyone who is not in favor of calling the question just to explain because it hasnt been stated here can vote no on calling the question and thats a difference in voting in the amendment. Motion is for me to call the question. Not debatable. All those in favor of calling the question please indicate by raising your hand. Down hands. Opposed. Question is called. Okay. Now we are voting on the amendment. This is calling amendment to 5a. The member weaver has read it previously and all those in favor of adding as a separate friday please indicate by raising your hand. [laughter] okay. Five. Is the sixth . Okay. Six. We have them all pushed back all those opposed. Its defeated. Were back to other amendments. Well, i need to make sure. Okay. Seeing no other members we go to the action items. We start with number one. I will read them. Okay. Come on jacob. Okay they will be on the screen for those of you who are here. I will read it as you put it up. The Democratic National committee in the party at all levels shall use all means and i will emphasize all means including encouraging student legislation, changing party rules, expand the use of primaries, all those in favor indicate by raising your hand. This is primaries sorry, wherever possible these are state run primaries. All those in favor hands are up. Opposed. Abstained. One abstention. Okay. Is anyone voting no . One abstention. Thank you. Action item two. The Democratic National committee and a party at all levels shall use all means including encouraging legislation, undertaking litigation, to require state to use the same day or automatic registration for the democratic president ial nominating process. Seeing no discussion, all those in favor, indicate by raising your hand. Unanimous. Number three, the Democratic National committee and the party at all levels shall use all means including encouraging legislation, changing party rules, undertaking litigation, to require states to use same date party switching for the democratic president ial nominating process as part of those efforts it shall be the position of the Democratic Party, as an example, that in otherwise eligible voter should be able to participate in the democratic president ial primary if she or he presents officials at the polling location with written notice that she or he wishes to be enrolled in the Democratic Party. No discussion. All those in favor indicate by raising her hand. Down hands. Its unanimous. Number four, the Democratic National committee and the party at all levels shall use all means including encouraging and opposing legislation, changing party rules and undertaking litigation to resist any attempt at Voter Suppression and disenfranchisement. Voter suppression interest in franchise and includes it is not limited to laws or regulations that make it more onerous for people to vote as well as administrative actions or inaction related to issues such as the number and placement of voting location and the adequacy and accuracy of state voting roles including Party Identification where required. In advance of the 2020 democratic nominating process Democratic National Committee Shall identify such as use on a statebystate basis and seek to remedy them prior to voting in 2020. This would include the timely pursuit of prospective judicial relief where appropriate. All those in favor indicate by raising your hand. Opposed. Im sorry, down hands. It was unanimous. Number five, Democratic National committee and all party at all levels shall use all means including encouraging legislation, changing party rules and undertaking litigation, to require states to allow voters to switch parties at least as late as the deadline for registering to vote with respect to any state that has a party switching which is in the rules of party shall be amended. So impose an appropriate penalty which could include a reduction in the number of pledged delegates to Democrat National convention to which the state would otherwise be entitled or potential adjustments to state party support. State parties are able to demonstrate at all provable positive steps including litigation as determined by the rules and Bylaws Committee have been taken to change the Party Affiliation deadline but were not successful in those efforts should not be penalized. All those in favor indicate by raising your hand. Its unanimous. Number six, the party must develop a strategy to prioritize and resource Education Programs directly to voters in the states due to no fault of the party but continue to have confusing timeline to registration and Party Affiliation in order to ensure everyone understands the rules and timelines in place that impact they have on voter participation. All those in favor indicate by raising your hand. Unanimous. Number seven, the Democratic National committee to publicly report an annual basis effort in result of those efforts to secure the changes in paragraphs one through six about. All those in favor please indicate by raising your hand. Its unanimous. The rules and Bylaws Committee should have a positive step in 21b to include legal remedies as a corrective measure to bring a state long compliance. All those in favor raise your hand. Its unanimous. If you want to make comments, theres a lot in here. The earlier point was be on 5a about what we do to enforce this. Did you want to say anything further . I know will deal with this in part a reform category but how we make sure everything we recommend in our existing rules and bylaws will be held accountable. Just as we discussed in the past and the conversation about how states weather in arizona theres going to be legal action or states like new york were sucked the state party. Parenthetically myself, this will take mobilization in two parts, the states we may have republican control suppressing the vote commits in states where the party has not pushed to be as inclusive as possible. Thats mobilization in the 57 parties. Im sorry, i was distracted i was slightly distracted and miss the opportunity and number six. We are going quickly through the process to make what i hoped would be a friendly suggestion amendment. That is, where it says to ensure that Everybody Knows the rules and timelines in place i would like, the line above that, in 19 confusing timelines for registration, i would like to add in the process for running for delegate, and order to ensure everyone ensures the process. That issue is not understood in most states. The same way you have to Party Affiliation was certain deadline, and some states like illinois you have to file to run for delegate almost a year in advance of the election. Its way too confusing. Ill preferably could include thats estate parties when submitting their rules Committee Makes it available in an understanding form for democrats in their state. I will second the. In the spirit of what were doing here, lets say thats timely. We did move fast. Again, there are two places that could go here it could also fit in party reform because were talking about put the parties delicates. In the spirit of inclusion, lets discuss it. I want to make a point similar, the current delegate selection plan requires this particularly with regard to affirmative action. Better subject to whether theres full implementation of the plan or not. I see no harm in reemphasizing it here. Is currently provided for with remedies. This is a longtime chair, theres no harm in including it, im big on making people happy here but. And reemphasizing our commitment to the point. So we had that is emphasis, all those in favor of amending six to improve delegate selection indicate by recent hand, smarter people here will get everywhere down the me place the processor running for delegate please raise your hand. In a pose. Abstain . Well call it unanimous. Senator turned in my. I want to clarify something. Were going quickly and five. We are not asking anybody to take steps that would be frivolous for the sake of filing a lawsuit just will is trying to clarify that you should use all these, the ones that have been itemized but either frivolous or impractical. I would be correct; back to the whole section and also about how we think it is controversy or independent public has the same respect as voters leaning democratic, is totally put out there to not have them both in the process, 310 Million People are so in this country put under two buckets being told by two parties who benefit from the system that they there have to be a democrat or republican but we dont want to the primary but i love you and the general. The amendment made a lot of sense not just in terms of numbers for the number of millennials of color in the millennial generation is the largest and most diverse. They are speaking loud and clear about how they feel about both parties. The Democratic Party supposed be the party of inclusion temps of diversity and thought. For this commission not to accept that amendment goes a long way showing we are not serious about that. Time to win over independent voters and making them feel wanted and included in the primary process. But we said no to that but they will tell him how much we love them and the generals because we need them to help us beat the republicans. I think that is wrong. I want to make sure its clear in the record that would were talking about including independence, i wish allstate said sameday Voter Registration so those that are independent may choose to be a democrat when they go into the voting booth to vote in a primary. Thats not the case. We have a lot of republicans in states that are blocking sameday Voter Registration because they know it increases participation especially in the democratic side. Its why some states choose to do caucuses. Because then we can then say we welcome independence and become a democrat the day of the caucus. When he said earlier they should just switch parties the day the primary, thats not possible in states like nebraska. We have allowed independence to vote our primary because we believe there critical to the makeup of our party. And in order to get our democrats over the finish line. The reason the amendment was put forward is because we have republicans for disenfranchising voters especially in red states. I want all independents to be democrats. Its why ran for a chair, i believe our party but we have to build a bridge to get the folks there. Just a closing comment, were pushing this as far as possible. Tomorrow youll hear about caucuses and what youll see here when theres a Democratic Caucus you have to be a democrat at that moment going in the room. Similarly were trying to push this language as far as possible to say when you go into the voting booth regardless of what you were before. So trying to frame that up so we feel theres a lot of accomplishment in terms of what were doing to push the state party States Holding back. I now turn it back to the chair. Two points, one, we found out the hotel policy is not to have signs were able to have them science. I just bring that up because security is doing what was being asked of the hotel. We are recessing for lunch and will come back in a short amount of time when we have found ourselves. Thank you. [inaudible] sunday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on book tv on cspan2, former Senior Advisor Rex Tillerson discusses his book, Digital World were, islamists, extremists in a fight for extremists he. Content is king, and she wears the pants in the family. They like to think about isis and others is that we are in a content for. At 8 00 p. M. , the book, everything you need to know about social media without having to call a kid. Everybody can get together and join together and do incredible things. Their stories about what others have done. Social media is not really new. Officers the delivery platforms. We have this smoke sing will, the party line, the telephone line. Everybody in the block and get on the phone. Everything now is amplified in terms of how far you reach in the speed of the communication