Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, shall be the parliamentary authority on all points not covered by the statutes of the State of Minnesota, the Constitution and Bylaws of the Republican Party of Minnesota, the Constitution and Bylaws of the Republican Party of Congressional District 6 (CD6), the Official Call of this convention, or the rules adopted by this convention. These rules, once adopted, shall not be amended nor suspended except by a two-thirds vote of the Convention.

Order of Business

The order of business of this Convention shall be as stated in the 2024 Convention Agenda. A motion to adjourn the Convention shall not be in order until all items on the Agenda have been addressed on the Convention floor excluding agenda item “other business”. All persons on the Convention premises shall register with the appropriate Credentials Committee member. Any person denied credentials should be referred to the Credentials Committee Chair for final determination. Guest Credentials, Campaign Credentials, Press Credentials and other ‘Visitor’ Credentials shall not be limited in number. All persons must sign in with Credentials Committee Chair or designee to receive their personal credentials. Access to the Convention floor will be restricted to those persons with valid Convention Credentials. All persons on the Convention floor shall outwardly display Convention Credentials. Any person misrepresenting their credentials will be denied access to the Convention floor for the balance of the Convention.

Speaking and Floor Privileges 

A delegate or seated alternate wishing to speak shall rise, address the Chair, state his/her name and the Basic Political Organizational Unit (BPOU) they are from, and the purpose for which he/she rises. Only seated delegates or alternates shall be allowed to make motions or address the Convention for debate.

The Convention Chair shall appoint a Timekeeper for the purpose of timing discussion, debate and speeches during the Convention. Debate upon any motion or subject from a delegate or seated alternate shall be limited to 90 seconds. No person shall be allowed to speak more than twice upon the same subject nor shall any person speak a second time until all others who wish to speak have had the opportunity to do so. At least two speakers on each side of a question shall be afforded the opportunity to speak before a motion to “move the previous question” or a motion to “lay on the table” shall be in order. The total time allowed for debate on each motion or subject shall not exceed ten minutes. After there have been two speakers on one side and the chair has asked two times for a speaker in opposition, if there is no speaker on the opposing side, the debate will be ended.

The chair of the Convention may recognize visitors and give them the privilege of speaking for up to 3 minutes, with the exception of the elected Congressman, who shall be afforded up to 15 minutes.

Candidates for National Delegate/Alternate and National Elector/Alternate will be allocated 45 seconds each to address the Convention.

Quorum

A quorum shall be determined, and if appropriate, declared after the preliminary report of the Credentials Committee. A quorum shall consist of a numerical majority of the total number of registered delegates as given in the preliminary report of the Credentials Committee. In no event shall the quorum be less than 30% of the eligible delegates allocated to said Convention. Once a quorum has been established, a quorum call shall be out of order. Registration will be open for 60 minutes after the Convention is called to order. BPOU Chairs, or designee shall be responsible for seating delegates and alternates per the CD6 Constitution, Art. X, Sec. 3 and reporting any change in voting strength to the Chair of the Credentials committee.

Convention Role and Quorum

Registration will close at 10:00am per convention call. Any one in line at that time shall be allowed to register, but anyone attempting to register after that shall be denied. Anyone pre-registered and prepaid will be considered a present delegate regardless of arrival time. A quorum shall be determined, and if appropriate, declared after the preliminary report of the Credentials Committee. A quorum shall consist of a numerical majority of the total number of registered delegates as given in the preliminary report of the Credentials Committee. In no event shall the quorum be less than 30% of the eligible delegates allocated to said convention. Once a quorum has been established, a quorum call shall be out of order. BPOU chairs, or designee shall be responsible for seating delegates and alternates per the CD6 Constitution, Art. X, Sec. 3 and reporting any change in voting strength to the Chair of the Credentials committee.

The permanent roll of the convention shall be constituted as follows:

1. 1)  The duly elected delegates to the CD6 convention of each BPOU elected at the BPOU convention who are actually present and registered. As provided in the Republican Party of Minnesota Constitution, Art. V, Sec. 4, “When a delegate returns to the floor of the convention, he or she will be seated immediately.”
2. 2)  If any duly elected delegate to this convention is absent at any time a vote is to be taken, then a duly elected alternate from that BPOU shall be seated in his/her stead by the BPOU chair or designee. If the Chair of the BPOU is not seated, and a designee has not otherwise been appointed by the BPOU Chair, the BPOU seated delegates shall appoint a designee for that BPOU. The order of seating of alternates shall be as follows.
   1. From the duly elected alternates of the BPOU, alternates shall be seated according to the procedure established by the constitution or bylaws of the BPOU.
   2. If no other procedure is established alternates shall be seated in order of votes received at the BPOU convention.
   3. If a vote count is not available, alternates to be seated at this convention shall be elected by majority vote of seated delegates of that BPOU.
   4. If no duly elected delegates or seated alternates are present, there shall be no representation from that BPOU.
   5. The report of seated alternates shall be reported to the Chair of the credentials committee.
3. 3)  The voting strength of each BPOU shall be the number of delegates and seated alternates present on the convention floor as reported to the convention Chair by the Chair of the Credentials committee. The Credentials committee chair may report any changes in the delegations prior to the election for each office or when requested by the convention chair. Each BPOU chair or designee will issued the proper number of voting cards, if used, by the credentials committee. Each BPOU chair or designee will be in charge of maintaining the distribution and collection of the voting cards.
   1. There shall be no cross-seating between BPOUs. That is, a delegate or alternate from one BPOU cannot be seated in another BPOU. The BPOU’s Constitution and/or By-Laws shall govern cross-seating within a BPOU.
   2. Seating of registered alternates shall be permissible at any time, if a delegate or seated alternate is absent, provided that upon return of the delegate, the delegate shall be immediately seated. However, after the start of any ballot, there shall be no change in seating until that ballot has been completed.

Convention Etiquette 

Please silence cell phones. No audio or video recording will be allowed unless specifically approved in writing by 6th Congressional District Chair.

Signs, Banners, Stickers, and Other Distributed Materials

Any and all materials distributed at the Convention will contain the name of the organization or the name and address of the individual(s) paying for the material, with the exception of lapel stickers. The sergeant-at-arms will confiscate any material not having such a disclaimer and the person or persons distributing the material will have their Convention Credentials revoked and they will be barred from the Convention floor.

If the venue allows, there shall be no more than 10 signs, advocating an issue or candidate, posted or affixed to surfaces within the Convention Hall, with no more than one of the 10 exceeding eight square feet in area. The total number of signs posted or affixed inside the Convention Premises, shall not exceed 50 advocating an issue or candidate, with no more than five of the 50 exceeding eight square feet in area. Signs, banners or stickers being held or worn by persons are exempted from this requirement. No signs shall be allowed within 15 feet of the stage or podium area except during candidate speeches. Candidate signage will be limited to those seeking a Republican endorsed office.

No Convention staff, including Page, Sergeant-at-arms, Chair, Secretary, Parliamentarian, Credentials Committee Chair, Rules Committee Chair, Constitution Committee Chair, Nominations Committee Chair, Chief Teller and Tellers (while tallying ballots), Time Keeper or other Convention officials, speaking from the podium, shall exhibit any outward sign of support for or engage in any activities on behalf of any candidates until election for that office has been completed.

Voting

Only registered delegates and seated alternates, present on the floor with an official voting card to this Convention, shall be permitted to vote.

The vote on all questions shall be by voting cards subject to the following restrictions: 

1) There shall be no voting by proxy or unit rule.

2)  A secret (paper) ballot shall be used for all contested elections and endorsements. All ballots will be supplied by the appointed Tellers.

3)  If division of the assembly is called for by any fifteen seated delegates or alternates; or at the discretion of the Convention Chair, a rising vote shall be taken.

4)  The Chair, or designee, of each BPOU shall distribute and collect the paper ballots from the delegates of their BPOU, verify the ballots as to number and deposit them with the Tellers. If the Chair of the BPOU is not seated, and a designee has not otherwise been appointed by the BPOU Chair, the BPOU seated delegates shall appoint a designee for that BPOU. The BPOU Chair, or designee, shall not open or count the ballots for their BPOU, except for roll call votes or to ensure the correct number of ballots received. Only Tellers shall open and count the ballots for a candidate during non-roll call votes.

5)  Ballots will be counted and recorded by BPOU.

6)  If there is a dispute as to the number of votes cast, the Head Teller shall decide the dispute and, if necessary, shall have appointed Tellers canvass the vote of that BPOU by separate written ballots, which shall then be the votes for that BPOU.

7)  In the event a candidate for a particular office runs unopposed, a vote by voice to endorse or elect by acclamation shall be acceptable.

Endorsement Question

The Nominations Committee shall report to the Convention all offices for which they have received written notification by candidates that are seeking endorsement. The Convention shall then first determine by simple majority vote, for each office, whether endorsement shall be considered.

Endorsement Procedure

All candidates or their representatives must notify the Chair of their intent to seek endorsement in writing by April 24th, 2024 Any candidate who fails to notify the Chair within the time specified cannot be nominated. There will be no nominations from the floor. Only one candidate may be endorsed for a single office. If candidates for more than one office are to be endorsed, the Convention shall vote on each office separately.

Only those delegates and seated alternates eligible to vote in the primary or general election for the candidate(s) for the office for which is currently being considered shall be entitled to vote on the endorsement of said candidate(s).

A ballot with pre-printed names may be used provided all requirements from the Republican Party of Minnesota Constitution are met. When there are more than two candidates running for an office, any candidate who receives 30% or less of the vote on any ballot shall be dropped from the next ballot. A candidate may remove his or her name from consideration at any time.

The Nominations Committee shall first give their report for any office that is being considered. A report of ‘qualified’ by the Nomination Committee indicates that candidate is nominated and no second is required. Each nominated candidate for shall be given 15 minutes total floor time which the candidate may use for nominating and seconding speeches and/or a personal address to the Convention. The order of each candidate’s time shall be determined by lot, with all speeches by or for a given candidate completed before a second candidate is allowed their time. The Convention Chair shall be apprised by the Timekeeper of each candidate's time and the Chair shall resume control of the Convention floor when their time is expired.

Any candidate shall be considered endorsed who shall by secret ballot receive the affirmative vote of 60% of the convention, if the 60% is greater than or equal to at least a majority of the registered delegates and seated alternates as established by the last report of the Credentials Committee preceding such vote.

If no candidate receives at least 60%, another ballot will be required with only those candidates receiving 30% or more of the votes on the first ballot proceeding to the next round. Beginning the third and subsequent ballots, only those candidates receiving 45% or more of the votes total will proceed to the next round. Balloting will continue in this manner until a candidate receives 60% or more of the votes.

After the endorsement, the endorsed candidate may address the Convention for up to seven minutes.

Balloting for National Delegate & Alternate

Voting for National Delegate shall be on one (1) pre-printed ballot with all the National Delegate candidates grouped by the Presidential candidate with whom they chose to be bound. Each delegate must vote for the allotted number of National Delegate slots per Presidential grouping. Any ballot that contains more or less than the allocated Presidential group will be considered spoiled. The top vote getters in each group shall be the National Delegates bound to their respective Presidential candidate on the first ballot at the RNC Convention. It is not necessary for the candidates to receive a majority of the votes to win. The alternate delegates will be the next highest vote getters in the respective candidate column. Ties will be decided by coin toss or other random method acceptable to all the tied candidates.

Nomination of Presidential Elector & Alternate Elector

Voting for Nomination for Presidential Elector shall be on one (1) pre-printed ballot. Each delegate may only vote for one (1) candidate for Presidential Elector. Any ballot that contains more than one (1) vote will be considered spoiled. The top vote getter shall be the CD6 Nominee for Presidential Elector and the second highest vote getter will be the Nominee for Alternate Presidential Elector. It is not necessary to receive a majority of the votes to win. Ties will be decided by coin toss or other random method acceptable to all the tied candidates.

Resolutions

Consideration of the Resolutions Committee report will proceed in three stages:

1. Delegates should familiarize themselves with the Resolutions brought forward by the Resolutions Committee Report, prior to the official presentation of the Report. The Report of the Resolutions Committee is to be considered as proposed changes to the existing platform.
2. Each proposed Resolution will be read by the chair. Unless debate is extended by a simple majority of delegates and seated alternates on the convention floor, the debate will be ended after there have been 2 speakers for and 2 against. Discussion will be alternated between “for and against”. If there is no speaker on the opposing side, the debate will be ended.
3. After debate, there must be a two-thirds (2/3) affirmative vote to approve the Resolution.



Action Agenda Items

Consideration of the Resolutions Committee report on proposed Action Agenda items will proceed in three stages:

1. Delegates should familiarize themselves with the Action Agenda Items brought forward by the Resolutions Committee Report, prior to the official presentation of the Report. The Report of the Resolutions Committee is to be considered as proposed changes to the existing Action Agenda.
2. Each proposed Action Agenda item will be read by the chair. Unless debate is extended by a simple majority of delegates and seated alternates on the convention floor, the debate will be ended after there have been 2 speakers for and 2 against. Discussion will be alternated between “for and against”. If there is no speaker on the opposing side, the debate will be ended.
3. After debate, there must be a two-thirds (2/3) affirmative vote to approve the Action Agenda item.



Recess

In the event the Convention votes to recess rather than adjourn, the Chair of the Convention, prior to the vote on the question, shall announce that the only delegates and alternates eligible to register for the reconvened Convention are those delegates and alternates registered as of the last Credentials Committee report of the original Convention. However, the number of votes required for endorsement at the reconvened Convention shall remain an affirmative vote of 60% of the convention, upon the condition that that number is also greater than 50% of delegates and alternates seated as stated in the final report of the Credentials Committee at the original Convention.