No Secret Ballots @ Board Meetings

Training for: Legal Notes

(Updated from the August 2016 Maine Townsman Legal Notes.)

Question: Our board customarily votes by show of hands or voice vote, but we have a controversial decision to make, and several board members have asked for a secret ballot vote. Is this legal?

Answer: No, it’s not. According to a 1981 opinion by the Maine Attorney General (Op. Me. Att’y Gen. (Oct. 6, 1981)), a secret ballot vote is not a permissible method of voting at any board meeting required to be open to the public by Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). (Virtually all municipal board meetings are subject to FOAA’s open meeting requirements, see 1 M.R.S. §§ 402(2)(C), 403.)

The AG’s reasoning was simple: Section 401 of the law states that the FOAA intends for public bodies to deliberate and act openly. A secret ballot, being designed to ensure privacy and anonymity, defeats the purpose of the law because it shields officials from public scrutiny and personal accountability. Thus, it is an impermissible method of voting at open board meetings.

Although to our knowledge there was (and still is) no Maine court decision directly on point, we wholeheartedly agree with the AG’s opinion.

For more information on the requirements of Maine’s FOAA, see an MMA Legal Services’ information packet on the topic in the “members’ area” of our website (www.memun.org) (By R.P.F./S.F.P.)

(Updated from the August 2016 Maine Townsman Legal Notes.)

Question: Our board customarily votes by show of hands or voice vote, but we have a controversial decision to make, and several board members have asked for a secret ballot vote. Is this legal?

Answer: No, it’s not. According to a 1981 opinion by the Maine Attorney General (Op. Me. Att’y Gen. (Oct. 6, 1981)), a secret ballot vote is not a permissible method of voting at any board meeting required to be open to the public by Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). (Virtually all municipal board meetings are subject to FOAA’s open meeting requirements, see 1 M.R.S. §§ 402(2)(C), 403.)

The AG’s reasoning was simple: Section 401 of the law states that the FOAA intends for public bodies to deliberate and act openly. A secret ballot, being designed to ensure privacy and anonymity, defeats the purpose of the law because it shields officials from public scrutiny and personal accountability. Thus, it is an impermissible method of voting at open board meetings.

Although to our knowledge there was (and still is) no Maine court decision directly on point, we wholeheartedly agree with the AG’s opinion.

For more information on the requirements of Maine’s FOAA, see an MMA Legal Services’ information packet on the topic in the “members’ area” of our website (www.memun.org) (By R.P.F./S.F.P.)