September 4, 2016
MOTION FOR ONLINE GOVERNANCE, SUCCESSION, AND SECURITY FOR THE 21ST LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT DEMOCRATS
Since being given the green light to proceed by the Executive Board during our meeting on April 2nd, 2015, working together with Sharon Holt forming the Technology and Records Committee, we have put forward a set of standards aimed at giving our District’s online presence the level of professionalism and sophistication it deserves.
Section 1 21ST LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT ONLINE PROPERTY
1.1 Accounts online that are designed to represent the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization shall fall under the governance of the Executive Board unless otherwise noted. These accounts may be created on, but are not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Dropbox, and Google Drive.
As of September 4, 2016, this includes:
• “21st Legislative District Democratic Organization of Washington State”, Facebook group reserved for members of the 21st Legislative District.
• “Executive Board of the 21st Legislative District Democrats”, Facebook group reserved for members of the Executive Board.
• “21st District Democrats”, Facebook page made available for public viewing.
• “@21dems”, Twitter account
• 21dems.org, website
• Any @21dems.org email address (eg. )
• Google Drive
• PayPal
• Dropbox
• Square Register
1.2 Any new online account or service created with the intention of use by the 21st Legislative District or to represent it may only be created at the discretion of the Executive Board. A simple majority vote in favor of the motion shall be required by the Executive Board to approval all new online accounts.
1.3 Personal accounts created by members of the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization or its Executive Board for personal use are exempt from having to solicit permission from the Executive Board.
1.4 The sole owner of the accounts enumerated in Section 1, 1.1 shall be the Chairperson of the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization who will retain logon and two-step verification information when available. The Technology and Records Committee shall manage the affairs of said accounts to the discretion of principles and protocol set by the Technology and Records Committee for internal guidance.
1.5 Under no circumstances may the two-step verification phone number, when applicable to the accounts enumerated in Section 1, 1.1, change from that of the current Chairperson or Chairperson-elect.
Section 2 21ST DISTRICT LEGISLATIVE ELECTRONIC RECORD-KEEPING; USB FLASH DRIVE
2.1 The 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization shall create two official mediums of electronic record-keeping: an Internet-based Cloud service and an official USB flash drive. The Internet-based Cloud service used is Google Drive.
2.2 A singular USB flash drive shall be purchased from 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization funds for official use as a record-keeping device. The flash drive shall remain in the possession of the Secretary (the “Controller”) of the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization.
2.3 The official USB flash drive shall keep the same exact records and files as the Cloud service does. If there is a mismatch, the Chairperson and Secretary shall coordinate a method to synchronize data with the assistance of the Technology and Records Committee. Documents stored on the USB flash drive shall be those designated “ready for publication”, or have already been published, by the Technology and Records Committee.
2.4 Upon succession of a new Secretary, the outgoing Secretary is required to forfeit ownership of the USB flash drive to the incoming Secretary no later than the incoming Secretary’s first official day in office. Secretaries-elect are permitted to solicit the USB flash drive from the previous Secretary from the moment their election is certified. Transfer of ownership of the USB flash drive must be conducted with the current Chairperson as witness. A copy of completed turnover documentation shall be maintained on Google Drive and the USB flash drive.
2.5 Should the Secretary resign and leave the office vacant, the possession of the USB flash drive shall transfer to that of the Chairperson until a new Secretary can be selected.
2.6 Should the USB flash drive be lost or become unusable, the Executive Board shall move to purchase a new USB flash drive. The Technology and Records Committee may assist the Secretary and Chairperson in backing up files from the Cloud service to the new USB flash drive.
2.7 The Secretary shall be required to sign a statement, as stated in relevant turnover documents in Section 2, 2.4, claiming responsibility and liability for the safe-keeping of the USB flash drive and its contents. Possession of the USB flash drive may not be assumed by the Secretary until this statement has been signed between the Chairperson and Secretary.
Section 3 21ST DISTRICT ELECTRONIC RECORD-KEEPING; GOOGLE DRIVE
3.1 The Google Drive account, , shall be used to store and publish its official internal and external documents for the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization. The Chairperson shall retain complete control (as “Owner”) of the Google Drive account by retaining its password information. The account’s two-step verification must route to the current Chairperson’s phone number.
3.2 The Google Drive account shall keep the same exact records and files as the USB flash drive does. If there is a mismatch, the Chairperson and Secretary shall coordinate a method to synchronize data. This process is managed under the assistance by the Technology and Records Committee.
3.3 Upon succession of a new Chairperson, the outgoing Chair is required to forfeit ownership of the Google Drive account’s logon and password information. The current Secretary shall bear witness to the transfer of ownership as well as the modification of the two-step verification to the incoming Chairperson’s phone number. If the office of Secretary is vacant, then the Treasurer shall bear witness. If the office of Treasurer is vacant, then the existing Executive Board shall collectively bear witness. This process is managed under the direction by the Technology and Records Committee. A copy of completed turnover documentation shall be maintained on Google Drive and the USB flash drive.
3.4 The Chairperson shall be required to sign a statement, as stated in relevant turnover documents in Section 3, 3.3, claiming responsibility and liability for the safekeeping of the Google Drive account and its contents. Control of the Google Drive account may not be assumed by the Chairperson until this statement has been signed between the Chairperson and Secretary.
Section 4 CONTENTS AND PUBLICATION OF RECORDS
4.1 Records kept by the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization shall include, but not limited to, meeting agendas, full meeting minutes, abridged meeting minutes, motions, reports, reference documents, governing documents, invoices, receipts, financial statements, relevant emails and letters, and promotional and design material.
4.2 The Chairperson and Secretary must be in agreement on the enforcement of what records need to be kept and what ones do not, unless stated otherwise by the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization Bylaws. If the Chairperson and Secretary agree that strategically damaging information should not be retained for official record keeping, it can only be done so at the simple majority approval of the Executive Board (excluding the Chairperson and Secretary).
4.3 Unless otherwise designated, General Membership meeting agendas, minutes, motions, reports submitted to the General Membership, and abridged versions of Executive Board meeting minutes, must be published publicly from the Google Drive account. Links to publications must be featured on www.21dems.org.
4.4 Information and records not publicly available may be made public by a valid motion of the General Membership and passed with a simple majority vote.
Section 5 FACEBOOK GOVERNANCE
5.1 The 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization shall work to actively manage three Facebook entities:
• Public page, “21st Legislative District Democrats”
• Private group, “Executive Board of the 21st District Democrats”
• Private group, “21st Legislative District Democratic Organization of Washington State”
5.2 The Chairperson and members of the Technology and Records Committee shall be Administrators on all entities. The Chairperson shall exercise their discretion on designating other individuals to administer the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization’s entities on Facebook.
5.3 The “Executive Board of the 21st District Democrats” group shall be closed except to current members of the Executive Board. Inclusion in this group is contingent on an individual’s membership in the Executive Board. The “21st Legislative District Democratic Organization of Washington State” group shall be closed except to current members of the Organization, PCOs, the Executive Board members, and select Democrat friends from neighboring LDs.
5.4 Administrators of the “21st Legislative District Democrats” may share content at their discretion, and monitor postings of others. Content must follow the following criteria:
• Content does not appear to be too repetitive. Eg. the Page doesn’t show that it has shared twelve items about climate change in a short period of time.
• Content mirrors the position of the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization, the Snohomish County Democratic Party, the Washington State Democratic Party, and/or the United States Democratic Party. Administrators are encouraged to remain as local and relevant as possible on current issues.
• A greater priority shall be placed to content more local to the 21st Legislative District than larger or other jurisdictions or administrative divisions.
• Content shared is done so using common sense: avoiding offensive or distasteful content; ‘conspiracy’ theories; viewpoints not concurrent with current Democratic Party positions; taking a position counter to that of our elected representatives from the 21st Legislative District; personal information.
Content and individuals that may be deemed inappropriate or not in accordance with these criteria are subject to removal by consensus of the Administrators.
New -Members blocked from the Facebook site will be reviewed at thenext regularly scheduled 21st LD BusinessMeeting.After reviewing the reason for theblock action,a motion may be madeby themembership presentto Keep Block as is, or to UnBlock,and/or how long to leave Blocked.
5.5 The Executive Board or any member or PCO may bring to the Chairperson’s attention content they feel is not suitable for our public page. With the consensus of the Administrators, may choose to edit or remove said content.
5.6 The Executive Board may compel the Chairperson, by means of simple majority vote, to add or remove administrators to the Facebook Page.
5.7 Events and meetings, open to the public, must be posted to the Facebook Page with details regarding time, date, location, and event details and/or requirements.
Section 6 TWITTER GOVERNANCE
6.1 Governing principles and standards for the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization’s Twitter account shall be the same as that of the Facebook Page unless noted otherwise.
Section 7 WEBSITE AND EMAIL GOVERNANCE
7.1 The Chairperson of the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization shall retain associate ownership of the 21dems.org website. As of August 31, 2016, the root owner of 21dems.org is pending host ownership transfer from private party to the 21st LD dems. The Chair may designate any number of individuals to assist them in website updates, contributions, and/or administration, subject to oversight of the Executive Board.
7.2 The Chairperson may choose one of these role designations to delegate to Members of the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization:
I. Administrator: ability to publish pages, remove pages, edit page contents.
II. Editor: ability to edit page contents.
III. Contributor: ability to submit content to be published on the website.
7.3 Administrators, editors, and contributors to the website are to exercise the same judgement as enumerated in Section 5, 5.4.
7.4 The Executive Board may bring to the Chairperson’s attention content they feel is not suitable for our website, and with the consensus of the Executive Board, may petition for it to be removed or edited.
7.5 Control of the email account shall be solely under that of the current Chairperson. Any other email address created @21dems.org to represent an elected official of the Organization shall be owned by the elected official it represents. For example, would be under the control of the Secretary.
7.6 Upon succession of a new Chairperson, the outgoing Chair is required to forfeit ownership of the email account’s logon and password information. The current Secretary shall bear witness to the transfer of ownership. If the office of Secretary is vacant, then the Treasurer shall bear witness. If the office of Treasurer is vacant, then the existing Executive Board shall collectively bear witness.
7.7 Style and design of the website shall be follow principles consistent with that of other Democratic organizations and other generally accepted web standards and practices.
7.8 The website shall always contain, at minimum, the following information:
• The 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization’s jurisdictional boundaries.
• Current membership of the Executive Board.
• The last six months of General Membership and Executive Board meeting agendas and meeting minutes.
• Links to the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization’s public Facebook Page and Twitter account.
• Link to email .
• Link to publicly available documents as published from the Google Drive account.
• Link to the Precinct Committee Officers’ Handbook
• Link to the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization Bylaws.
• A list of the current Precinct Committee Officers of the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization.
• A link to the Snohomish County Democratic Party website
. A list endorsements by the 21st for the next upcoming election
. A payment method for membership payments and donation contributions
Section 8 BRANDING AND GRAPHIC DESIGN
8.1 The official logo for the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization shall be thus:
8.2 The following are the official emblems for the Committees of the 21st Legislative District Democratic Organization: