East Central Reporter

According to recent reports, the Marion County Board in Illinois conducted a vote to elect a board member as chairman using a secret ballot. This action is in violation of the Open Meetings Act, which has prohibited such ballots for over 90 years.

In 1933, Illinois Attorney General Kerner highlighted the issue of secret ballots. He stated: “Of what avail is an open door to the public if the proceedings are secret. The eye can see, the ear can hear, but secrecy conceals all. It is no advantage to the citizen to see a member secretly write a name on a ballot unless he is privileged to read what is thereon written. If the vote were taken by whispering in tones so low the attending citizen could not hear, how would he know what is being done. If no record is made of how the individual members vote, of what avail is the statute providing for an open meeting with open doors.”

The case recalls an incident at an Edgar County Airport Board meeting referenced in a Binding Opinion from 2013.

It has been suggested that the Marion County Board should organize another special meeting to re-conduct votes for board chairman and any other decisions made through secret ballot.