In what order should a Louisiana city council vote on nominees for a local civil service board?

Plain-English summary

A Harahan councilman asked which of two nominees for the local civil service board should be voted on first. In Opinion 03-0344, the AG answered that nominees should be voted on in the order they were nominated. It drew that sequence from Robert's Rules of Order and cited R.S. 42:5 for the requirement that public bodies vote openly and record their votes.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

Council and meeting chair

For the local civil service board appointment, the AG applied Robert's Rules' nomination-order sequence. The quoted parliamentary rule described taking nominees one at a time in that order when more candidates were nominated than seats available.

Public voting

R.S. 42:5, as quoted in the opinion, required public-body votes to be viva voce and recorded in the body's minutes or other official written proceedings. The AG discussed that requirement alongside the nomination procedure.

Common questions

Should the city vote on the first or second nominee first?

The AG said to vote in the order of nomination.

Could the council use a secret ballot for this vote?

The quoted R.S. 42:5 barred secret balloting by a public body and required open, recorded votes.

Was the voting sequence itself stated in R.S. 42:5?

The opinion took the order from Robert's Rules of Order; it cited R.S. 42:5 for the public-vote requirement.

Background and statutory framework

R.S. 42:5 addressed open meetings and public-body voting. The AG quoted Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 10th Edition, for the procedure when multiple nominees compete for a limited number of seats, then applied that procedure to Harahan's civil service board nominations.

Citations and references

• R.S. 42:5: open and recorded voting by public bodies.
• Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 10th Edition, pages 476–477: nomination-order procedure quoted by the AG.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0344

Original opinion text

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One American Place

Cw L mV,S ON
301 Main Street, Suite 600
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
FAX: (225) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
ATTORNEY GENERAL

October 20, 2003
OPINION 03-0344

Mr. Provino Mosca
77 OFFICERS
City Councilman
R.S. 42:5
6437 Jefferson Highway
Nominees by goveming authority to local civil service board are voted on
in the order in which they were nominated.
Harahan, LA 70123

Dear Councilman Mosca:

You have asked this office to define the correct procedure governing a vote by the City of Harahan, a Lawrason Act Municipality, regarding nominees to serve on the local civil service board. Your specific question is:

When two people have been nominated to a board, is there a specific order in which the vote should be taken?

As you are aware, R.S. 42:5 requires public bodies to vote by "voice vote" as the statute provides:

§ 5. Meetings of public bodies to be open to the public

A. Every meeting of any public body shall be open to the public unless closed pursuant to R.S. 42:6, R.S. 42:6.1, or R.S. 42:6.2.

B. Each public body shall be prohibited from utilizing any manner of proxy voting procedure, secret balloting, or any other means to circumvent the intent of R.S. 42:4.1 through R.S. 42:8.

C. All votes made by members of a public body shall be viva voce and shall be, recorded in the minutes, journal, or other official, written proceedin,qs of the body, which shall be a public document.

D. Except school boards, which shall be subject to R.S. 42:5.1, each public body conducting a meeting which is subject to the notice requirements of R.S. 42:7(A) shall provide an opportunity for public comment at such meeting, subject to reasonable rules, regulations, and restrictions as adopted by the public body. (Emphasis added).

Robert’s Rules of order, Newly Revised. 10th Edition dictates that nominees are voted on in the order in which they were nominated, at page 476 and 477:

Page 2

Mr. Provino Mosca
OPINION 03-0344
Page 2
b) Nominations from the floor (open nomination) with viva-voce election (usually called simply "nominations from the floor"). This is a common method of appointing members to a committee when the assembly wishes to reserve the election to itself without requiring secrecy in the voting.
When this method has been decided upon, the chair says, "Members will please nominate," or, "Nominations for the committee are now in order." The chair announces each nomination as he hears it, as shown on page
418. No one has the right to nominate more than one person to membership on the committee until every other member has had an opportunity to nominate a candidate; and thus the nomination of more than one person at a time by a single member can be entertained only by unanimous consent. If no more than the prescribed number of committee members are nominated, even after the chair calls for further nominations, the chair can put the question on the members named constituting the committee. A vote in such a case is unnecessary, however, since the fact that no more than the required number are nominated shows that there is unanimous consent that the committee should consist of these persons, which the chair declares as follows: "Messrs. A, B, and C, Mrs. D. and Mrs. E are nominated. Are there any further nominations? . Since there are none, the committee is composed of the persons jus named [or he repeats the names if he feels it advisable]." If there are more nominees than the required number of committee members, then, when there are no further nominations, the chair repeats all of the names in the order in which they were nominated, and in the same order puts the question on the election of each nominee - one at a time until the proper number have been elected - as described for viva-voce elections. For reasons explained on pages 427-29, those nominated last in such a case have less chance of being elected. After the selection of committee members has been completed, the assembly can elect a committee chairman from among them, if desired; or a chairman can be elected separately, first.
(Emphasis added).

We conclude that nominees by a governing authority to the local civil service board are
voted on in the order in which they were nominated. We hope the foregoing is helpful
to you. Should you have other questions, please contact this office.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB

BY: ’KER)~Y L~/~I:YA’FRI~k -

AS,.R1STANT ATTORI~EY GENERAL
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