The Republican National Committee: Rule No. 1
The Republican National Committee: Rule No. 1
The Republican National Committee: Rule No. 1
THE REPUBLICAN
NATIONAL COMMITTEE
RULE NO. 1
Organization of the Republican National
Committee ............................................................. 1
RULE NO. 2
Method of Election for National Committeeman
and National Committeewoman ............................ 1
RULE NO. 3
Term of Office for National Committee
Members ................................................................ 2
RULE NO. 4
Vacancies of Members and Officers ...................... 2
RULE NO. 5
Officers of the Republican National Committee .... 3
RULE NO. 6
Executive Committee of the Republican National
Committee ............................................................. 5
RULE NO. 7
Rules of Order ....................................................... 6
RULE NO. 8
Meetings of the Republican National
Committee ............................................................. 7
RULE NO. 9
Filling Vacancies in Nominations ......................... 8
RULE NO. 10
Committees of the Republican National
Committee ............................................................. 9
RULE NO. 11
Candidate Support............................................... 15
RULE NO. 12
Amendments ........................................................ 15
CONVENING OF THE NEXT NATIONAL
CONVENTION
RULE NO. 13
Call of Next Convention ...................................... 16
RULE NO. 14
Membership in Convention ................................. 16
RULE NO. 15
Participation in the Delegate Selection
Process ................................................................ 18
RULE NO. 16
Election, Selection, Allocation, or Binding of
Delegates and Alternate Delegates ..................... 19
RULE NO. 17
Enforcement of Rules .......................................... 27
RULE NO. 18
Vacancies in a State Delegation .......................... 29
RULE NO. 19
Excess Delegates and Alternate Delegates.......... 29
RULE NO. 20
Certification of Election or Selection of
Delegates ............................................................. 30
RULE NO. 21
Contests: Resolution by States............................. 31
RULE NO. 22
Temporary Roll of the Republican National
Convention .......................................................... 32
RULE NO. 23
Contest Filing ...................................................... 32
RULE NO. 24
Contest Procedure ............................................... 33
RULE NO. 25
Convention Committee on Credentials ................ 34
PROCEEDINGS OF NATIONAL CONVENTION
RULE NO. 26
Order of Business ................................................ 35
RULE NO. 27
Committee Reports .............................................. 36
RULE NO. 28
Admission to Convention Hall ............................. 36
RULE NO. 29
Voting .................................................................. 37
RULE NO. 30
Rules of Order ..................................................... 37
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RULE NO. 31
Length of Debate ................................................. 37
RULE NO. 32
Suspension of Rules ............................................. 38
RULE NO. 33
Platform Resolutions ........................................... 38
RULE NO. 34
Minority Reports; Amendments ........................... 38
RULE NO. 35
Motion to Table ................................................... 39
RULE NO. 36
Previous Question ............................................... 39
RULE NO. 37
Roll Call .............................................................. 39
RULE NO. 38
Unit Rule ............................................................. 40
RULE NO. 39
Record Vote ......................................................... 40
RULE NO. 40
Nominations ........................................................ 41
RULE NO. 41
Convention Committees....................................... 42
RULE NO. 42
Temporary Rules ................................................. 44
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PREAMBLE
BE IT RESOLVED, That the Republican
Party is the party of the open door. Ours is the party of
liberty, the party of equality, of opportunity for all,
and favoritism for none.
It is the intent and purpose of these rules to
encourage and allow the broadest possible
participation of all voters in Republican Party
activities at all levels and to assure that the Republican
Party is open and accessible to all Americans.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the
following be and hereby are adopted as The Rules of
the Republican Party, composed of the rules for the
election and government of the Republican National
Committee until the next national convention, the
rules under which delegates and alternate delegates
shall be allotted to the respective states in the next
national convention, and the rules under which such
delegates and alternate delegates shall be elected and
under which contests shall be considered, and the rules
of business of this national convention.
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THE REPUBLICAN
NATIONAL COMMITTEE
RULE NO. 1
Organization of the Republican National
Committee
(a) The Republican National Committee
shall have the general management of the Republican
Party, based upon the rules adopted by the Republican
National Convention. The members of the Republican
National Committee shall consist of one (1) national
committeeman and one (1) national committeewoman
from, and the chairman of the state Republican Party
of, each state.
(b) For the purposes of this rule and all other
rules, "state" or "states" shall be taken to include
American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam,
Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin
Islands, except in Rule No. 14, and unless the context
in which the word "state" or "states" is used clearly
makes such inclusion inappropriate.
RULE NO. 2
Method of Election for National Committeeman
and National Committeewoman
(a) Where the rules adopted by a state
Republican Party do not provide a method of election
of the national committeeman and the national
committeewoman, and where state laws do provide
such a method of election, they shall be elected
pursuant to such method provided by state laws.
(b) Where the rules adopted by a state
Republican Party do not provide a method of election
of the national committeeman and the national
committeewoman, and where state laws do provide
such a method of election, they shall be elected
pursuant to such method provided by state laws.
(c) Where neither the rules adopted by a
state Republican Party nor state laws provide a method
of election of the national committeeman and the
national committeewoman, the national convention
delegation from such state shall elect them.
(d) At each national convention, the
chairman of the delegation from each state shall
submit the names of the elected national committee
members to the secretary of the convention and their
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officers shall be elected in January of each oddnumbered year. All officers, except the vice chairmen,
shall be nominated from the floor and shall have at
least the majority vote of the Republican National
Committee members in each of three (3) states in
order to have their names placed in nomination. There
shall be no nominating committee.
(c) The chairman shall appoint a general
counsel for the Republican National Committee, who
also will serve as counsel to committees and
subcommittees of the Republican National Committee,
and a chairman of the Republican Finance Committee,
both of whom shall be confirmed by the Republican
National Committee and shall serve at the will of the
chairman. Neither the general counsel nor the
chairman of the Republican Finance Committee need
be a member of the Republican National Committee.
RULE NO. 6
Executive Committee of the Republican National
Committee
(a) There shall be an Executive Committee
of the Republican National Committee to consist of
thirty (30) officers and members of the Republican
National Committee: the chairman, the co-chairman,
the vice chairmen, the secretary, the treasurer, the
general counsel, the chairman of the Republican
Finance Committee, the chairman of the Standing
Committee on Rules, the chairman of the Standing
Budget Committee, the chairman of the Standing
Committee on Resolutions, the chairman of the
Republican State Chairmens Advisory Committee,
the chairman of the Standing Committee on
Presidential Primary Debates, three (3) members to be
appointed by the chairman, and eight (8) additional
members to consist of one (1) man and one (1) woman
elected by and from each of the four (4) regional
caucuses in January of each odd-numbered year.
(b) The Executive Committee may exercise
all of the executive and administrative functions
required of the Republican National Committee
between meetings of the Republican National
Committee, with the exception of the following:
(1) election of officers of the
Republican National Committee;
(2) issuance of the call and
designation of the time and place for holding the
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(i)
The
Standing
Committee on Resolutions shall consider all
resolutions submitted by any member for adoption by
the Republican National Committee at least ten (10)
days before the day on which General Session shall be
held at any regularly called meeting of the Republican
National Committee or at least three (3) days before a
specially called meeting. To be considered timely
submitted, a resolution must be received by the
chairman of the Standing Committee on Resolutions
by the submission deadline, followed by the original
signed resolution before the beginning of the meeting
of the Standing Committee on Resolutions. All cosponsorship forms shall be due before the beginning of
the meeting. This committee shall report to the
Republican National Committee all adopted
resolutions, with amendments where applicable, for its
consideration. Resolutions that are not adopted by this
committee shall be reported for informational
purposes only to the Republican National Committee.
(ii)
The
Standing
Committee on Resolutions shall report out, without
amendment and for consideration by the Republican
National Committee, any resolution submitted in
writing and supported by at least two (2) members of
the Republican National Committee from each of ten
(10) states, which is dated and submitted to the
chairman of the Standing Committee on Resolutions at
least ten (10) days before any regularly called meeting
of the Republican National Committee or at least three
(3) days before a specially called meeting. In the event
of a memorial resolution submitted in response to the
passing of the person so remembered, the ten (10) day
requirement may be waived by the Standing
Committee on Resolutions.
(3) The Republican National
Committee shall create a Standing Budget Committee
and any subcommittees thereof that it deems desirable,
to which it may delegate the responsibility of
developing a budget and reviewing income and
expenditures of the Republican National Committee.
The Standing Budget Committee shall be composed of
eleven (11) members of the Republican National
Committee, three (3) of whom shall be appointed by
the chairman of the Republican National Committee,
and each of the four (4) regions shall elect two (2)
members, one (1) man and one (1) woman, at its
regional caucus held in January of each odd-numbered
year (as provided in Rule No. 5(a)(2)) and the
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by
any
method
Delegates
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and
alternate
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RULE NO. 22
Temporary Roll of the Republican National
Convention
(a) The names of the delegates and alternate
delegates certified by the officials designated in Rule
No. 20 shall be placed upon the temporary roll of the
national convention by the Republican National
Committee.
(b) No person on the temporary roll of the
national convention and whose right to be seated as a
delegate or alternate delegate is being contested shall
be entitled to vote in the national convention or in any
committee thereof until, by vote of the national
convention, the contest as to such person has been
finally decided and such person has been permanently
seated, except that any such person may be accorded
the right to so vote, except in matters involving the
credentials of that person, by an affirmative vote of a
majority of the members of the Republican National
Committee or the Convention Committee on
Credentials.
RULE NO. 23
Contest Filing
(a) Notices of contests shall state: (i) the
name and address of the person filing the notice (the
contestant), (ii) the name of the delegate or alternate
delegate being contested, and (iii) the grounds of the
contest and the basis of the contestants claim to sit as
a delegate or alternate delegate to the national
convention, and shall be filed no later than thirty (30)
days before the time set for the meeting of the national
convention, with the secretary of the Republican
National Committee and shall be sent, simultaneously,
by email, certified mail, or other means set forth in the
procedural rules adopted by the Standing Committee
on Contests to each person being contested and to the
chairman of the Republican state committee of the
state. In the case of delegates or alternate delegates
elected or selected at a time or times in accordance
with applicable state law rendering impossible the
filing of the notice of contest within the time above
specified, such notice must be filed within three (3)
days of the certification in accordance with Rule No.
20 of any delegates or alternate delegates so elected or
selected.
(b) A contest may be filed against a delegate
or alternate delegate only by an individual who ran
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RULE NO. 27
Committee Reports
(a) The report of the Convention Committee
on Credentials shall be disposed of before the report of
the Convention Committee on Rules and Order of
Business is acted upon; the report of the Convention
Committee on Rules and Order of Business shall be
disposed of before the report of the Convention
Committee on the Platform is acted upon; and the
report of the Convention Committee on the Platform
shall be disposed of before the convention proceeds to
the nomination of candidates for President of the
United States and Vice President of the United States.
The report of the Convention Committee on
Permanent Organization shall be disposed of at any
time after the disposition of the report of the
Convention Committee on Credentials, but before the
nomination of candidates, based upon the order of
business as prepared by the Republican National
Committee.
(b) The report of any such committee listed
in Rule No. 27(a) shall be considered as read if made
available to the delegates prior to its consideration.
RULE NO. 28
Admission to Convention Hall
(a) No person except members of the several
delegations, officers of the convention, members of
the Republican National Committee, and incumbent
Republican governors, incumbent Republican United
States Senators, and incumbent Republican members
of the United States House of Representatives shall be
admitted to the section of the convention hall
restricted to delegates.
(b) Press and staff shall be admitted to the
section(s) of the hall authorized for them.
(c) The chairman of the Republican National
Committee shall ensure that guest passes to the
convention are distributed in an equitable fashion.
Each delegate and alternate delegate to the convention
shall receive at least one guest pass to each session of
the convention.
(d) Each state, through its Republican
National Committee members, shall be allocated full
sets of additional guest passes equal to thirty-three
percent (33%) of the total number of delegate and
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RULE NO. 32
Suspension of Rules
A motion to suspend the rules shall always
be in order, but only when made by authority of a
majority of the delegates from any state and seconded
by a majority of the delegates from each of seven (7)
or more other states, severally.
RULE NO. 33
Platform Resolutions
All proposed resolutions relating to the
platform shall be submitted in writing to the
Convention Committee on the Platform without
reading and without debate.
RULE NO. 34
Minority Reports; Amendments
(a) No resolution or amendment pertaining
to the report of the Convention Committee on the
Platform or the Convention Committee on Rules and
Order of Business shall be reported out or made a part
of any report of such committee or otherwise read or
debated before the convention, unless the same shall
have been submitted to the chairman, vice chairman,
or secretary of such committee or to the secretary of
the convention in writing not later than one hour after
the time at which such committee votes on its report to
the convention and shall have been accompanied by a
petition evidencing the affirmative written support of a
minimum of twenty-five percent (25%) of the
membership of such committee.
(b) When a temporary committee is
convened as a permanent committee, and if a minority
report is presented to the chairman, the chairman shall
inquire as to whether any of the signatories of the
minority report would like to have his or her name
removed from the report. Anyone requesting to have
his or her name removed shall have his or her
signature removed immediately.
(c) No amendment pertaining to the report
of the Convention Committee on Credentials affecting
delegates or alternate delegates from more than one
(1) state shall be in order.
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RULE NO. 35
Motion to Table
It shall be in order to lay on the table a
proposed amendment to a pending measure and such
motion, if adopted, shall not carry with it or prejudice
such original measure.
RULE NO. 36
Previous Question
When the previous question shall be
demanded by a majority of the delegates from any
state, and the demand is likewise seconded by a
majority of delegates from each of two (2) or more
other states, severally, the call is sustained by a
majority vote of the delegates to the convention.
RULE NO. 37
Roll Call
(a) Upon all subjects before the convention
requiring a roll call, the states shall be called in
alphabetical order.
(b) In the balloting, the vote of each state
shall be announced by the chairman of such state's
delegation, or his or her designee; and in case the vote
of any state shall be divided, the chairman shall
announce the number of votes for each candidate, or
for or against any proposition; but if exception is taken
by any delegate from that state to the correctness of
such announcement by the chairman of that
delegation, the chairman of the convention shall direct
the roll of members of such delegation to be called,
and then shall report back the result to the convention
at the conclusion of balloting by the other states;
however, that in any event, the vote of each state for
the nomination for President shall be announced and
recorded (or in the absence of an announcement shall
be recorded) in accordance with the results of any
binding Presidential preference vote or direct election
of delegates bound or pledged pursuant to these rules,
state party rules, or state law.
(c) In balloting, if any delegation shall pass
when its name is called, then at the conclusion of the
roll call all delegations which passed shall be called in
the order herein before established. No delegation
shall be allowed to change its vote until all delegations
which passed shall have been given a second
opportunity to vote.
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