More to Recording Individual Votes Under Open Meeting Law Than You Might Think

When a board member participates in an open meeting through interactive technology, the Open Meeting Law requires roll call votes and recording the votes. However, recording votes of individual board members goes beyond remote participation in meetings.

Nearly all individual votes of board members need to be recorded in a journal or minutes, regardless of whether the meeting is in person or has remote participants.

Section 13D.01, subd. 4 of the Minnesota Open Meeting Law provides that:

1. Votes of members of state agency, board, commission or department; or of the governing body, committee, subcommittee, board, department or commission on an action taken in a meeting required by this section to be open to the public must be recorded in a journal or minutes.
2. The vote of each member must be recorded on each appropriation of money, except for payments of judgments, claims and amounts fixed by statute.

This subdivision applies to all meetings covered by the Open Meeting Law, whether they are completely in person or have board members that are participating remotely.

In an opinion from 1975, the Minnesota Attorney General stated that this subdivision requires “that the individual votes of public officials on ‘any action’ be recorded in a journay [sic] except for votes on ‘payments of judgments, claims and amounts fixed by statute.’”* (Op. Atty. Gen. 125a-14, Feb. 28, 1975.)

Citing to this Attorney General opinion, the Minnesota Department of Administration rejected the argument that only items related to appropriations of money needed to be recorded individually. In Advisory Opinion 21-001, the Commissioner stated “[t]he Commissioner agrees; the Board must include the votes of each member of the public body on any action, ‘except for payments of judgments, claims, and amounts fixed by statute.’”

In its Statement of Position: Meeting Minutes, the Office of the State Auditor also instructs that the Minnesota Open Meeting Law “requires that minutes include the individual votes of each member of the governing body on any action, including each appropriation of money other than ‘payments of judgments, claims, and amounts fixed by statute.’”

Members are encouraged to discuss any specific questions regarding Open Meeting Law compliance with their legal counsel.

*In 2021, Minn. Stat. 13D.01, subd. 4 was modified to permit the recording of votes in a journal or minutes.