The Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2017 will be a historic one, regardless of which players on the ballot are deemed worthy of induction. It will be the final class voted into the Hall under the cover of darkness and secret ballots from the Lords of the Laptop.

The Baseball Writers Association of America has decided to get out the Hall of Fame vote, as in finally getting it out of a shroud of secrecy.

Starting with next year’s ballot, which will elect the class of 2018, BBWAA members with the Hall of Fame vote will have their votes made public. The BBWAA passed this measure by an 80-9 vote last week at baseball’s Winter Meetings in Maryland. Next voting cycle the individual ballots will be made available seven days after the 2018 inductees are revealed. It’s about time.

As sportswriters, we constantly demand accountability from athletes. We want them to stand up after games and answer for their actions and their decisions. We demand explanations and grade performances. We also want the sports organizations we cover to operate with transparency. It’s highly hypocritical not to reciprocate that same accountability and transparency when it comes to determining who merits baseball’s highest honor and most exalted status.

The Hall of Fame vote carries great influence and with that influence comes responsibility. If you don’t want that responsibility, don’t accept the Hall vote. Keeping the ballots secret was self-serving. Secrecy is antithetical to journalism. Writers put their name on their work. Their ballots should be no different.

Making the ballots public is especially important in the current era of Hall of Fame voting. The steroid era has made voting more subjective than ever. Hall voters are now working in a post-factual environment, just like the rest of America.

The days of going by the numbers, the facts, are over. America is dealing with the scourge of fake news. Baseball writers have to deal with fake numbers, statistics inflated by confirmed or ostensible performance-enhancing drug use.

More and more voters are going to be voting with their gut and based on their personal PED sensibilities. It’s not an enviable position, and it’s probably going to lead to inconsistencies.

If a voter is going to say yes to Roger Clemens but not Barry Bonds, we should be able to know and ask why.

If someone didn’t vote for a slam-dunk candidate out of some silly guardian-of-the game obligation to preserve the supercilious fact that no player has ever gotten 100 percent of the vote, we should know.

The Baseball Hall of Fame process is already more democratic than the other major sports Halls of Fame. Unlike the Pro Football, Basketball, and Hockey Hall of Fame, there isn’t a committee ordaining the honorees behind closed doors.

Baseball doesn’t have this Politburo approach. It’s based on the will of the electorate.

The idea of making any kind of individual ballot public will always make some folks uncomfortable.

But in the grand scheme of life putting players into a Hall of Fame for how well they hit or threw a baseball is a trivial matter compared to electing a public official. We’re not threatening democracy by requiring baseball writers to disclose their Hall of Fame ballots.

Plus, if you don’t vote for Curt Schilling, he is probably just going to have his friends hack the Hall of Fame vote anyway. You will be shamed by Schill, WikiLeaks-style.

Remind me not to send any incriminating e-mails to Shaughnessy’s account.

For years, the BBWAA has made the names of Hall of Fame voters public, just not their ballots.

Currently, more than 50 percent of Hall of Fame voters make their ballots public voluntarily, according to outgoing BBWAA president Derrick Goold.

Voters can vote for a maximum of 10 candidates. Write-in votes are prohibited. Any candidate receiving votes on 75 percent of the ballots is elected to the Hall of Fame. That’s the magic number for baseball immortality.

Players used to get 15 years on the ballot, but in 2014 the Baseball Hall of Fame amended the rules to limit players to 10 years.

Public ballots for major honors are nothing new to BBWAA voters.

The BBWAA determines baseball’s major awards — Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year. It already makes voting for those honors available on its website.

Why reveal some BBWAA-sanctioned votes but not the most important one?

Taking the clandestinity out of Cooperstown for the fans and the players is a no-brainer.

It will help the voters as well. There is a perception that personal agendas and vendettas dictate some Hall of Fame votes. Removing the mystery from the process could benefit all parties.

The voters I know take their vote very seriously and deliberate diligently over their ballots. They’re not leaving some player off because he was a lousy quote or uncooperative. An incensed Jim Rice once ripped the shirt right off a baseball writer in a fit of anger. Rice is still in the Hall of Fame.

Full disclosure, I’m a member of the Boston chapter of the BBWAA (No. 572). However, I have not yet earned the honor and privilege of the Hall of Fame vote like many of my esteemed colleagues.

Only active and honorary members of the BBWAA who have been baseball writers for at least 10 years are eligible to vote for the Hall of Fame. Voters must have been active as baseball writers and members at least 10 years prior to the election they’re participating in.

But I’m happy to say that if and when I do get the Baseball Hall of Fame vote, that vote will be made public.

BBWAA members have a right to their opinions, but they have an obligation to the players they’re judging to own those opinions.

The players performed with public scrutiny, so should the voters.

Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cgasper@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @cgasper.