The recently amended pleadings by Louisiana Attorney General (AG) Liz Murrill in the lawsuit against the Caddo Commission and seven Commissioners filed over the Bernie Sanders resolution has been expanded to declare Commission electronic votes illegal.
A well-respected attorney familiar with municipal law and these proceedings, who declined to be named, graciously forwarded Louisiana Attorney General Opinion No. 80-2, dated January 8, 1980. Willaim Guste was the Attorney General at that time.
This AG opinion was rendered for John J. Swilley, the Parish Administrator for Terrebonne Parish. The opinion reads:
"You inquire whether it is permissible to use electronic machines which display the use of lights how an individual representative votes as opposed to a "Voice Vote" where each representative expresses a 'yea' or 'nay' as the case may be."
The opinion acknowledges the statutory language of VIVA VOCE which the opinion defines as "voting by speech or outcry as distinguished from voting by written or paper ballot."
The opinion states that "literally VIVA VOCE means vote by voice, however the underlying concept of VIVA VOCE is one of publicity. Hence the electronic voting machines meet the underlying concept of VIVA VOCE."
The opinion concludes "this method of voting is in keeping with the letter and spirit of the Open Meetings Law. The legislative intent was to require public expression--whether it be by voice or symbolically by use of an electronic machine which displays in lighting how each representative decides to vote."
Attorney General Opinions are just that--opinions that are not binding like statutory law or court decisions. And as in this case, one Attorney General can have a different legal opinion from another.
How a judge will rule, including any appellate judges, on this issue, is a big unknown that can have a tsunami impact on all elected bodies including the state legislature that use electronic voting at meetings.
Stay tuned.