The Jay School Committee is considering a policy requiring its members to hold votes in public, and specifically prohibiting votes by secret ballot.

How curious, since state law already requires that.

Does the committee truly need to enact a policy to require members to abide by state law?

We certainly hope not.

Maine’s Freedom of Access Act governs how public officials conduct their business, and very specifically requires that all business be conducted in public. The law requires that all “actions be taken openly ... and deliberations be conducted openly.” That includes votes, which result from deliberations and is how public officials take action.

Any vote taken by a secret ballot is not action taken in public. It’s a farce.

Jay School Committee members should know this because each of them, even the most recently elected, has completed the state’s mandated freedom of information training course, for which they are to be congratulated.

Committee Chairwoman Mary Redmond-Luce said she believes committee members have voted in secret in the past, before she was on the board, using secret ballots to decide issues when matters were controversial, and she wants it to stop. At the July 1 committee meeting, Redmond-Luce said she knew of other school districts voting by secret ballot when they didn’t want their votes known.

She’s right. Public officials are doing this and it’s wrong.

On June 10, the RSU 36 Board of Directors voted by secret ballot to elect a chairman and vice chairman. Why? What’s to hide? Electing committee officers isn’t a popularity contest; it’s an action of public officials to select people to guide their committee.

It is possible that not each member of the RSU 36 board recognizes the need to conduct their business in the open because not every member has completed their mandated FOI training. Rod Newman of Livermore, and Katie Castonguay and Ann Souther, both of Livermore Falls, have each served a year or more on the board. State law requires them to complete the training within 120 days of election to office, and to file a certificate with the school district to record completion. These three have failed to do so.

Incoming Superintendent Sue Pratt seeks to change that, and has set a mandatory orientation on FOI for every member of the board. Good. Maybe then RSU 36 votes will all be done in public.

This secret balloting is not limited to school boards. We’ve seen this happen elsewhere, including a vote by the Paris Board of Selectmen to elect a chairman and vice chairman just last month.

In that case, Selectman Ted Kurtz — a lawyer — requested that the board vote by written ballot, arguing state law requires the paperwork. Fine. But the board voted by anonymous ballot, making each of their actions secret.

If they feel the need to vote by ballot, do that, and sign names. The ballots would then, of course, become public and permanent records of their action. It’s a simple matter of accountability.

If we, the public, quietly allow secret balloting to elect board officers, what’s next? Secret ballots to pass budgets? Set policies? Close schools? Condemn property?

Government accountability hinges on the guarantee that actions are taken in public. Voting by secret ballot to take any action dings accountability, credibility and public trust.

That’s no way to conduct the public’s business.

editorialboard@sunjournal.com