UP Colorado Constitution

(Adopted June 2017, Amended April 2019, April 2020, June 2021)

I. Party Affiliation

A. The Unity Party of Colorado, the newest officially-recognized political party in the State of Colorado, shall be considered the Colorado affiliate of the Unity Party of America

1. The Unity Party of Colorado platform shall be considered synonymous with the Unity Party of America platform with provisions made for addressing state and local issues, those provisions expressed by the State Chair with input from state members

II. Nominating Candidates

A. The Unity Party shall nominate candidates for partisan offices at party assemblies with the approval of a majority of party delegates or 30% of party delegates present at those assemblies, whichever higher percentage is allowed by state law

1. If more than one candidate is nominated at a party assembly and/or one or more candidates qualify for the primary ballot by petition, the Unity Party shall allow unaffiliated voters to vote in that primary

2. Unity Party assemblies shall nominate Presidential electors as allowed by state law

B. If no majority vote is obtained in a voting round at an assembly, the two candidates who received the most votes and any additional candidates who tied with them shall proceed to another round of voting until a majority vote is obtained for one Unity Party candidate

C. The nomination for Lieutenant Governor shall be made by the party’s candidate for Governor no later than seven days following the candidate for Governor’s election by the Unity Party as/or as allowed for by state law

III. Calling and Conducting Assemblies and Conventions

A. Unity Party assemblies and conventions shall be announced by the party chairperson via website, email, social media, press release and any other appropriate means no later than 15 days before said assembly or convention, which shall be held in a public place

IV. Selecting Delegates to Assemblies and Conventions

A. Delegates to assemblies and conventions shall be self-selected, but are required to be registered as a “Unity” voter in the State of Colorado in order to have voting power at an assembly or convention [Amended by Amendment I below]

V. Selection of State Central Committee and other Party Officers

A. The Unity Party of Colorado State Central Committee shall consist of five members each elected at party assemblies by a majority vote of party delegates present at a Unity Party convention or assembly

B. The Unity Party Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Assistant Vice Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary and all other party officers shall in turn be elected from elected State Central Committee members by a majority vote of delegates at a Unity Party convention or assembly

C. Elected Unity Party officers in addition to the Chairperson shall include a Vice Chairperson, Assistant Vice Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary

1. The Unity Party Chairperson may designate additional party staff (e.g., Communications Director) with the assent of the other Central Committee members

VI. Party Office Vacancies

A. Party Office vacancies shall be filled by a delegate vote at the party convention or assembly immediately following the event of that vacancy

1. Interim appointments may be made by the Chairperson with Committee assent

VII. Powers and Duties of Party Officers

A. The Unity Party Chairperson shall call and preside over all Unity Party meetings, make interim party officer appointments with the assent of other Committee members, act as spokesperson for the Unity Party, and otherwise lead the Unity Party of Colorado

B. The Treasurer shall handle all Unity Party of Colorado funds as outlined by state law

C. The Secretary shall keep all party records, including meeting minutes

D. The Vice Chairperson shall become the Chairperson in the event of a Chairperson vacancy

E. The Assistant Vice Chairperson shall become Chairperson in the event of vacancies of both Chairperson and Vice Chairperson

VIII. State and County Party Organizational Structures

A. The Unity Party State Party Organizational structure shall be that outlined in this Constitution, and County party organizational structures shall be left to the discretion of the members residing in those counties

IX. Party Meeting Announcements

A. Any meeting to elect party officers, including delegates, and any assembly to nominate candidates, shall be held at a public place at the time specified by the party chairperson and the time and place of such meeting shall be published once, no later than fifteen days before such meeting, in a newspaper of general circulation in each county wherein the members of the minor political party reside

X. Party Public Communications

A. Only the Unity Party Chairperson and/or his/her designee (e.g., Communications Director) shall speak on behalf of the Unity Party; all other communications by party members shall be respected as personal opinions of those members only

XI. Amending the Unity Party of Colorado Constitution

A. This Constitution shall be amended by a two-thirds vote of all state party delegates assembled at a party meeting duly called by the presiding Unity Party Chairperson

B. Per state law, the Unity Party Chairperson shall file any amendments to this constitution with the Colorado Secretary of State no later than fifteen days after the said amendments are adopted

XII. Terms and Removals of Party Officers

All party officer terms shall begin on June 6th of an odd-numbered year

Any party officer shall be removed by a 60% vote of the State Central Committee

Adopted this day, July 15th, 2017 by the below assembled Unity Party of Colorado members:

Bill Hammons

Jeff Sprague

Eric Bodenstab

Scott Wagner

Christopher E Otwell

Amendment I [Superseded by Amendment VI]

(Adopted at April 2019 Convention)

IV.A. shall be amended to read: “Delegates to assemblies and conventions shall be self-selected, but are required to have been registered as a ‘Unity’ voter in the State of Colorado since on or before January 1st of the year of that assembly or convention, in order to have voting power at that assembly or convention.”

Amendment II [Repealed by Amendment VII]

(Adopted at April 2020 Convention)

All Unity Party of Colorado votes shall adhere to the Approval Voting Method, which allows votes by a voter for more than one option to be considered valid.

Amendment III

(Adopted at April 2020 Convention)

To clarify, ‘present’ in the Unity Party of Colorado Constitution shall be understood to mean both ‘present in person’ or ‘present via any appropriate electronic means’ with a verifiable record of access and participation via electronic means.

Amendment IV

(Adopted at April 2020 Convention)

No one person shall be allowed to hold more than one office at a time within the Unity Party of Colorado, as long as there is at least one other willing and able individual available for any given additional office.

Amendment V

(Adopted at April 2020 Convention)

The United Colorado Committee shall be confirmed to be the State Central Committee of the Unity Party of Colorado and shall consist of no more than seven members.

Amendment VI

(Adopted at April 2020 Convention)

The required deadline of official Colorado voter affiliation with the Unity Party for Unity Party candidates to be considered for the party’s nomination to a General Election ballot shall be the day of the nominating Convention or Assembly. Furthermore, Amendment I to the Unity Party of Colorado Constitution shall be amended to read, “IV.A. shall be amended to read: ‘Delegates to assemblies and conventions shall be self-selected, but are required to have been registered as a “Unity” voter in the State of Colorado since on or before January 1st of the year of that assembly or convention starting in 2021, in order to have voting power at that assembly or convention'”.

Amendment VII

(Adopted at June 2021 Convention)

Amendment II, Approval Voting, is hereby repealed.