Provides for the method of voting in public meetings

House Bill 73 amends Louisiana Revised Statutes 42:14(C) to expand the permissible methods by which members of public bodies may cast votes during meetings. Current law requires all votes to be conducted viva voce, meaning by voice or oral declaration, with votes recorded in official meeting minutes or journals. The bill adds a new provision authorizing members of public bodies to vote by electronic voting machine, provided that the machine publicly displays how each member votes. This addition operates as an alternative to viva voce voting rather than a replacement, allowing public bodies to adopt electronic voting procedures while maintaining the statutory requirement that all votes be recorded in official written proceedings and remain public documents. The amendment is narrow in scope, addressing only the voting mechanism and not altering the substantive requirements regarding public access to meetings or the permanent recording of voting results.

The practical effect of this legislation extends to all Louisiana public bodies subject to the Open Meetings Law, including state agencies, boards, commissions, local government councils, school boards, and other governmental entities that must conduct voting on official matters. Public body members now have the discretion to utilize electronic voting machines in lieu of voice voting, which may streamline proceedings, reduce ambiguity in recording close votes, and create a contemporaneous electronic record of individual member positions. The public retains full access to voting records since the bill requires the electronic voting machine to publicly display each member's vote and mandates that all votes continue to be recorded in official written proceedings. Citizens attending meetings will therefore be able to observe directly how each member votes while maintaining access to permanent documentation through official minutes and journals.

This amendment operates within the framework of the Louisiana Open Meetings Law codified in Chapter 6 of Title 42 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes. The bill preserves existing statutory requirements that all votes be recorded as public documents and does not alter the fundamental principle that public body meetings must remain open to the public except as specifically exempted by statute. The legislation applies prospectively only and does not affect any litigation pending on its effective date, meaning disputes arising from voting procedures conducted prior to the bill's enactment cannot be revisited based on this new voting method. The constitutional dimension involves the transparency protections inherent in the Open Meetings Law, as the electronic voting requirement maintains the public's ability to observe and access voting information while modernizing the technical mechanism for recording and displaying votes.