Saaremaa councillors call for clearer public voting records

Saaremaa municipal council members say individual voting records should be easier for the public to see after a software change left only vote totals visible during meetings and online streams, ERR reported.

The council moved from the VOLIS system to software from Ektaco more than a year ago. Since then, people watching meetings in the chamber or on YouTube have been shown the total votes for and against, but not how each councillor voted.

Council chair Koit Voojärv said individual voting records can be found in a separate internal web environment, but the system does not display them automatically to the public. Making them visible would require changes to the platform, which would come at a cost, he said.

Councillors from both the opposition and governing coalition said voters should be able to see how each representative voted. Isamaa member Mart Maastik said the records are difficult to find, while Liis Lepik of the Terve Saaremaa electoral alliance said individual votes are important because council voting is public.

Olivia Taluste, a legal adviser at the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture, said the current system does not appear to breach legal requirements. She added that it was good practice for a municipality’s information system to show who voted for or against a proposal.

Voojärv said the software would need to be developed to show individual votes publicly. Estimates put the cost at a few thousand euros. He said councillors could express their preference on whether to pursue the changes.