Ocean Pines Board of Director member Cheryl Jacobs has a good point: an elections committee gathered for the sole purpose of counting ballots does not constitute a meeting in any legal sense.
The committee isn’t empowered to take any action other than to assure ballots are valid and to count them. It does nothing beyond those two functions, so there is no meeting according to the law.
Committee members have rightly taken umbrage at the suggestion, however faintly whispered, that this closed-door process opens another door to election rigging or some other nefarious scheme.
Even the mention of that possibility questions the integrity of each individual who volunteered for the job and would be considered by just about anyone as a personal affront.
In fairness, we wondered as well why the ballot counting should be closed until Jacobs offered her opinion to the contrary. That prompted the realization that ballot counting in municipalities is closed to the public, as is allowed by Maryland election law.
The purpose of this provision is to permit the vote tallying to proceed without public interference, politicking or interfering in an attempt to influence the process. The law does make an exception for legally authorized watchers.
The closed-door vote-counting procedure was once challenged in Ocean City on much the same grounds as those expressed in Ocean Pines. The fiery response from the election judges, given their professionalism and pride, was hardly surprising.
Insinuating that a group of people might be ethically challenged is more than just politics in small towns. Everyone knows everyone else and that makes it personal.
Even if the public were to be allowed in the room as votes were being counted, any comment from individuals, political conversations or disruptions would be inappropriate and could themselves be viewed as an attempt to affect the results. That said, doing the tally in private, with authorized watchers present if need be, is the right way to go.