Since 1974, the charter that governs the Democratic National Committee has mandated that certain underrepresented groups - women, african americans, and youth, to name a few - be given proportional representation among convention delegates.  In proportion to what?  To their share of the Democratic electorate.  That means that if 20% of the population who vote Democrat in a given election cycle are african american, then african americans should theoretically comprise at least 20% of the delegates at the DNC.  These "affirmative action provisions," as they are called, are enforced through a series of state-level goals and timetables determined by each state's delegate nomination/election process.  

In a nutshell: In the last 30 years, this provision has not been enforced for "youth," even though it has for women and underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, and a few weeks ago, the Young Democrats initiated a campaign to change that.

As in most things where rules and procedures and technocratic maneuverings dictate outcomes, the issue is slightly more byzantine than this simple encapsulation.  In response to a (pre-winter meeting) letter by YDA President Chris Galloway, the DNC presented two counter arguments to YDA's request that the DNC enforce the Charter: first, that a 1980 resolution passed by the Rules and Bylaws Committee mandated certain goals for underrepresented groups, but that youth were purposefully excluded from that resolution; second, that the whole issues doesn't matter anyway because in 2004 15% of delegates qualified as "youth" (and certainly that's plenty and we should all be satisfied).  

In response to the first argument, YDA countered that the Charter, as the ultimate governing document of the DNC, automatically trumps all Resolutions that don't specifically amend the Charter, and therefore 1980 rule that excluded youth should be invalidated.

If you want to get into all the gory details of this pre-winter meeting exchange, you can read the letter that YDA President Chris Gallaway sent to the DNC about the matter and the response by Philip A. McNamara, Director of Party Affairs and Delegate Selection.  Read the DNC Charter here.

In response to the DNC's second argument, well, its tempting to not even talk about the idiocy of an argument whose basis is that the Democratic Party purposefully wants to make an effort to not engage more young people.  But at my request, YDA did some digging around to determine the share of the democratic electorate that young voters comprised in 2004 (the last year for which comprehensive data is available).  It's a difficult number to determine because both YDA and the DNC consider the term "young people" to encompass all18-35 year olds, but neither CIRCLE, Young Voter Strategies, or the Census Bureau measure that specific age range.  Nevertheless, here's what CIRCLE had to say:

In 2004, the share of voters that voted for John Kerry that were ages 18-29 was 18.71 percent.  For ages 18-39 the share was 35.89 percent. These statistics are calculated from the Current Population Survey, November Supplement, 2004.

Based on these numbers, I don't think it's totally unreasonable to think that 18-35 year olds probably comprised at least 25% of the electorate in 2004.  That would mean, under the DNC Charter, we should comprise ~25% of all convention delegates.  Quite a bit higher than the 15% noted by the DNC in their response letter. Whether you buy into YDA's campaign or not, or approve/disapprove of goals for any constituency, clearly young democrats are underrepresented at the DNC.  That's important.

Delegates to the DNC elect the party's nominee (an important responsibility during a contested convention, mostly for show otherwise).  More importantly, they are involved in shaping and passing the Democratic Party platform, amending the rules and bylaws of the DNC.  Most important of all, this is our party.  Young voters were a big factor in Democratic wins in 2006 - even greater if you expand the definition to include 30-35 year olds, and we were the only age demographic to favor John Kerry in 2004.  We're showing up big time for Democrats and we deserve a place at the table.  When the DNC meets and makes important governing decisions, Party officials should look around the room and be confronted by a sea of young people whose input and issues can't be ignored.  

I went to the DNC in 2004 for Music for America.  You can read my old blog about the experience here.  We weren't delegates, and we weren't  invited into all the proceedings, or all the fancy delegate events, but I attended just about every "youth event" that was open to the public, and MFA held a big concert that weekend at the Middle East Club - which was attended by delegates, protesters, and locals alike.  Let me just say, based on those experiences, that the DNC needs a huge shot in the arm of old-fashioned youth sensibility.  Not just young delegates looking to network and launch a career in politics.  It needs the point of view of the punk kid and club owner who get active in their local community, the young tech worker who contributes to open source projects in his spare time, the guy/girl who runs poetry slams after school to get kids involved and aware, and more folks who understand and are part of the netroots (don't relegate us to a bar across the river).  It needs Drinking Liberally and all the folks who make DL such a vibrant part of the progressive community.

At the end of the day, YDA's attempt to institute guidelines and timetables for recruiting youth was rejected in the Rules and Bylaws committee - on a technicality.  The Young Democrats missed a deadline for submitting Amendments.  They did, however, win a partial victory.  Language was inserted allowing states to set their own, optional goals for any and all underrepresented groups identified by the Charter, including youth.

So what now?

Tony Cani let me in on YDA's next steps.  The national organization plans to take it to the states and use their local chapters to pressure state parties to adopt those voluntary guidelines.  And YDA plans to walk as many of their members as possible through the long process of becoming a delegate.  

I'd encourage anyone here between 18 and 35 years old to get in touch with your local YDA chapter and find out how to be a delegate.  Get them to walk you through the process.  As soon as I can get my hands on a walk-through for the process, I'll repost it here, as well as create an entry in Future Majority's DIY Politics wiki.    Not only will you be brining the perspectives of our generation into the Democratic Party, but as part of the netroots, you'll also be crashing the gates of the DNC.  It could use the young blood.