From the Hotline

By Teri Henning
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: Our Board recently voted on a matter using secret ballots. The President read the results out loud, but refused to say how each individual board member voted. Did they violate the Sunshine Act?

A: Yes. Under section 705 of the Sunshine Act, votes must be publicly cast. The specific language in the Act is as follows:

In all meetings of agencies, the vote of each member who actually votes on any resolution, rule, order, regulation, ordinance or the setting of official policy must be publicly cast and, in the case of roll call votes, recorded. 

In a 1995 case, the Commonwealth Court explained that in order to be "publicly cast," as required by the Sunshine Act, the vote must be one that informs public of an elected official's position on particular matter of business. Public Opinion v. Chambersburg Area School Dist., 654 A.2d 284, Cmwlth.1995. 

The Board members here have not met the requirements of the Act because they did not identify how each individual board member voted.

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