CHAPTER 269
FORMERLY
HOUSE BILL NO. 580
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 10004 OF TITLE 29, DELAWARE CODE BY EXEMPTING TOWNS WHICH ARE DIRECT DEMOCRACIES FROM KEEPING INDIVIDUAL VOTING RECORDS.
WHEREAS, the principal of the secret ballot protects the liberty of all citizens in a free society; and
WHEREAS, the Freedom of Information Act requires that the votes of public bodies be kept as a written record available to the public; and
WHEREAS, any town which operates as a direct democracy is thereby required to record the votes of all citizens attending town meetings; and
WHEREAS, this requirement operates as a burden on such towns and violates their right to take secret ballots.
NOW, THEREFORE:
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend Subsection (f) of Section 10004 of Title 29, Delaware Code, by inserting the words "(except where the public body is a town assembly where all citizens are entitled to vote) after the words, by individual members", and before the words "of each vote taken" as they appear in the second sentence.
Approved June 21, 1982.