The town moderator will file a warrant article for the spring session that will ask Town Meeting members to consider allowing electronic voting at Town Meeting.
Town Meeting moderator, Gil Moreira, who will sponsor the warrant article, said he hopes to have the committee approved in the spring so members can take a trial run with the system at the next fall session.
“I think people will see it as a great step forward,” Moreira said. Moreira said that recording votes, that would later be published, would give the entire Town Meeting process a greater sense of transparency. “I think it’s a heck of an opportunity to streamline the entire process,” he said.
Though Moreira said that he did not have a specific company in mind to supply the voting system, Moreira said that the software does exist.
An electronic voting system debuted earlier this year at the Chelmsford Town Meeting. Under that system, “yea”, “nay” and “abstain” are each assigned a number, representatives then use a wireless device that has been numerically assigned to them to punch in the number that corresponds with their vote.
Representatives are the given 35 seconds to vote. During that time they may change their vote. Votes are posted on screens that are refreshed up to four times and then almost immediately uploaded to a Web site.
Richard DeFreitas, the town moderator in Chelmsford, said the system has been a success and has added a greater sense of transparency to the process. “We did it for accountability,” he said. “It’s amazing to watch.”
DeFreitas said that the view screens display each member’s name. This makes their vote almost instantly public.
DeFreitas said that now 99 percent of the votes cast is done automatically
Moreira said this process would effectively do away with the hand-count and teller system that forces the moderator to count votes and the cross-reference his result with the town clerk.
“I think the this will save up to 20 minutes a night,” Moreira said.
The Chelmsford system cost $10,000, and though DeFreitas said that the primary reason for the switch was not save time, he admitted that voting electronically has sped the process up.
“We did it for accountability,” he said.
Moreira said he hopes to get a grant that would defer some of the cost. Town manager, John Curran said he is looking for grants for the system. “I think it will expedite the entire Town Meeting process,” he said.
Some members of the Board of Selectmen welcomed the plan.
“I think it would be great for the folks at home to see how their representative voted,” said Selectman Bob Correnti.
Selectman Andrew Deslaurier agreed. “I’m in favor of anything that connects voters with their elected officials,” he said, “I’m in favor of responsibility.”
Town Meeting Rep. Sandra Giroux, who has served as vote counter for several Town Meeting sessions, said that while she is concerned about the cost of an electronic system, she, too, thinks it would bring more accountability to the process.
“You would actually be able to see how your representative voted,” Giroux said. She also said that it would force more people to vote. She said that there are times when it seems one-third of the body’s members are not voting.
Fact, if those in power want an electronic voting system; there is no reason to wait to obtain it. The Town Manager and the BOS can authorize the expenditure out of existing funds. Estimated cost is somewhere in the vicinity of $15 to $20 thousand dollars based upon the size and scope of the Chelmsford purchase and installation of $10,000.00. Purchase does not mean implementation. That requires the approval of the Town Moderator, who, incidentally, states he wants such a system. The powers to be are all accounted for and there is nothing that can stop or slow the process of obtaining this system, testing it and implementing it in time for the Spring Town Meeting except a desire to do so.
These systems are not rocket science. Yes, it is a new technology, and it is likely that there will be some technical glitches – as there was with the new audio system. But we have 4 months to go over those that can be expected by talking with Chelmsford’s Town Moderator and getting informed on potential or actual problems and learned “work arounds” to resolve them.
Town Meeting will undergo the largest potential turn over in decades with the upcoming election. The new members will have to be trained on the new system. Waiting until the Fall Town Meeting will not change this factual necessity; so, there is no reason for a delay due to training, technology, or corporate approval.
Enough is enough. It is past time for Billerica officials to get off of their collective dead butts and actually perform in a way that benefits the town instead of their own narrow interests. The citizens have a right to know who is voting for and against their particular interests. Our town management is abysmal in comparison to that of surrounding towns and excuses are like rectums…everyone has one and they all stink; so, offer something constructive, do something constructive, get this system ordered, purchased, installed and usable by the Spring Town Meeting.
While you are considering actually doing something active, how about picking up the telephone and asking DPW how they are making out in assessing the need for tree limb and brush cutbacks and the response they are getting from NSTAR. Maybe, someone can disclose how such functions are checked for completeness to demonstrate that adequate supervision occurs at all levels of the town’s civil service resources.
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