Hi to all those interested in voting technology and process, We’ll be discussing these sorts of issues at tonight’s Select Board meeting, reviewing the Town Clerk’s proposal for “clickers” that electronically tabulate town meeting votes, as well as having a preliminary discussion of other possible meeting/process improvements. We’ll briefly review changes that we’ve tried in the past, ideas other towns have tried or are thinking about such as remote voting, suggestions we’ve heard from you, and what state law says about all this, as we think about whether and how we should go about such changes.
Our meeting starts at 6:30pm tonight, although I’ll warn you there are a few things on our agenda before the above topic. See agenda here<https://www.lincolntown.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12182023-5384> and zoom link below, and note this discussion will be during the “Special Town Meeting Reflections” item, which we may pull forward to just before the public comment period. If you can’t make tonight’s meeting, feel free to reach out to me directly on this topic, especially if you’re inclined to help investigate or push forward an initiative! -jim Topic: Lincoln Select Board Meeting Time: December 18, 2023, 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/91832375325?pwd=aXRpdnlJWHJINnZzd0xOQW9ZTjIvdz09 Meeting ID: 918 3237 5325 Passcode: 378902 From: Lincoln <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Fil Zembowicz Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2023 9:28 PM To: Robert Ahlert <[email protected]> Cc: Lincoln Talk <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] Wow 800 Lincoln folk vote at STM As a 30-something (I guess under-represented?) software developer (over-represented?) in town, I found the inefficiency of the mechanics of the tallying process the frustrating part of the meeting. Hearing the presentations and public comments is amazing and something I find very valuable. Sitting around waiting for addition to happen manually is another matter... It's 2023 ... we could trivially have a system whereby each voter attending the meeting (or not?) is given a unique link via text message or email at which they can input their vote (once) on their phone, while providing summary statistics to the moderator in real time. I can't imagine this is a new idea, there are surely vendors that provide this service to numerous states and municipalities. This is not a "hard problem", it would take a weekend to build a simple version of this. I would be happy to advise on / help implement such a thing if there is motivation to do so. Fil 16 Minebrook Rd On Tue, Dec 12, 2023 at 9:19 PM Robert Ahlert <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Town meeting is special, a chance to discuss and decide on issues. The camaraderie is cathartic after intense pre-election debating. However, when it comes time to vote, i think emotion should not play a role and therefore I prefer electronic voting. I trust my fellow residents to do their homework and come prepared to cast a ballot. Rob Ahlert 185 Lincoln Road Robert Ahlert | 781.738.1069 | [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> On Tue, Dec 12, 2023 at 9:00 PM Laura Crosby <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: I’m 100% in agreement in purchasing electronic voting devices. Valerie Fox is also in agreement. We lost close to two hours at the recent Special Town Meeting waiting for votes to be counted. Many left after first vote due to timing issues. Sent from my iPhone On Dec 12, 2023, at 6:47 PM, Scott Clary <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Peter and Andy, Thank you for detailing a plan for revampment of our voting system that makes so much sense. It really is a no-brainer. And the percentages broken down by age that Peter provided are quite telling. Kind Regards, Scott Clary 617-968-5769 Sent from a mobile device - please excuse typos and errors On Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 6:17 PM Peter Buchthal <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: A town meeting is an all day plus affair which disenfranchises many younger voters with families and other voters who are unable to attend all day meetings. At our last special town meeting in early December we had 878 voters check-in with the following distribution of voters by age. 18-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80+ 2% 5% 14% 16% 23% 24% 16% With only 640ish cast ballots for preference votes for the Community Center and HCA rezoning, we lost 16/% of our checked-in voters as many didn't stay to participate in both important votes. Please note that only 21% of the vote is 49 or under. With a poor representation of our younger residents, We need to revamp our Town Meetings to better engage our 4876 registered voters. Certain votes require 2/3 of a town meeting and with such poor voter turnout, the power of a few well organized groups can dominate the decisions of the town unjustly. I propose 1) The town should purchase electronic voting devices to speed up all town meetings. At least 60 towns in the commonwealth already successfully use these devices. I bet we could save at least a couple of hours at each town meeting by using this proven technology. List of Mass Towns<https://www.meridiaars.com/electronic-voting-system-in-massachusetts-towns/> 2) We should explore Andy Wang's earlier suggestion of separating the debate/amend parts of a Town Meeting from the voting part. The town should create a working group to explore the many different ways to increase voter participation at Town Meetings. Maybe we can even get this new style of Town Meeting ready for our March meeting. Many towns like Concord have town meetings that last several days and have even poorer voter participation than ours Concord Town Meeting Participation<https://concordma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/43398/TOWN-MEETING-VOTER-PARTICIPATION-1997-2023>. The working group should explore separating the time consuming parts of a Town Meeting from the voting part. The first day of the Town Meeting could work through, amend and debate all contentious warrants up to an actual vote. At a certain point when a warrant is ready to vote, the moderator should table the vote until the continuation of the 2nd day of the town meeting. Information about the 1st day's work will be posted online with a video that voters would be able to review. The 2nd day of only voting would be a couple of days after the first and begin at a set time and be finished hopefully after only spending a couple of minutes per vote if the Town purchases electronic voting devices. Peter Buchthal Weston Rd On Tue, Dec 12, 2023 at 9:01 AM Andy Wang <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: As of March, according to the election results. <29AFF794-562A-4589-B5F3-D20DB548516B.png> Andy On Tue, Dec 12, 2023 at 8:36 AM Garrick Niemiec <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: On Mon, Dec 11, 2023, 9:52 PM Garrick Niemiec <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: 5000 voters are on record On Mon, Dec 11, 2023, 9:36 PM Barbara Low <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: I thought there were about 5000 residents, not voters. Does anyone know the actual number of voters? Sent from my T-Mobile 5G Device Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg> ________________________________ From: Lincoln <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> on behalf of Sara Mattes <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2023 8:22:46 PM To: Garrick Niemiec <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Cc: Lincoln Talk <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] Wow 800 Lincoln folk vote at STM Most towns do NOT do this. Laws which govern Open Town Meeting towns are the determining factors. Perhaps all who want to come up with some new concepts should get together, like LRHA, and research and propose to the town. That would be really instructive and constructive. March will have a ballot, in addition to the TM vote -to approve the $$ for the Community Center. One could skip TM and simply vote at the ballot box the following Monday. Again, I urge all who are interested in this issue to form a study group and see what options are available. ------ Sara Mattes On Dec 11, 2023, at 8:09 PM, Garrick Niemiec <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: I couldn't disagree more...we need to make voting accessable...time for change Sara.. time for change now. Let us vote electronically...all of us remotely. C'mon most towns do it now. New comers including my family all recognize this! The system is sooo antiquated. Join us now before the march town meeting fails us again! Again and again and again! As a good friend said at STM we are not spending our money wisely! You know that...a school project for 30M turns into 100 M. Driven by current Lincoln politics including selects. Yikes! Now RLF is bankrupt? What's going on here. We're in a tailspin. Any ideas? On Mon, Dec 11, 2023, 6:53 PM Sara Mattes <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Garrick, Town Meeting is open to all who care enough to attend. It not a drive-by! When people make noise about wanting a secret ballot at a ballot box, there is no evidence that indicates a huge leap in participation! I don’t like the way thing unfolded or the (predictable) outcome, but it was not because voting was not available tall. ------ Sara Mattes On Dec 11, 2023, at 5:53 PM, Garrick Niemiec <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: 5000 are registered voters...this is NOT the Lincoln way!!! -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. 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