The 260 unit system cost $26,000
The electronic voting system hardware arrived at Town Hall in three convenient carry cases earlier in the week just in time for the 258th Annual Town Meeting, although probably too little too late to save the quaint but antiquated form of government.
Sort of like buying a new saddle for a dying horse.
The system will help speed up the cumbersome process of Tally and Standing Votes cutting the time from 10 minutes down to less than one, and will provide better transparency as more votes will be recorded.
Fortunately the units can also be used for other meetings and public forums. For instance the new Charter Commission at their first public hearing could ask the audience if it's time to ditch Town Meeting in favor of a City Council.
The units could send either a simply yes or no, or the questions could also be framed "On a scale of 1-10 how effective and responsive is Town Meeting?"
Town Meeting will also be asked for $25,000 to hire an expert consultant to assist the Charter Commission over the next year.
Kind of ironic if Town Meeting votes down that request using the new $26,000 voting system, eh?
Are they going to be able to know how each current town meeting member vote's ?
ReplyDeleteHow are they being controlled when they are handed to each person ?
Will this information be available to the general public for review ?
Yes to question one and three.
ReplyDeleteTown Clerk's office will assign a particular clicker on the first night of Town Meeting to each Town Meeting member.
If someone were smart, they'd assign numbers to seats --- e.g. 1-01, 1-02, 1-03 -- Precinct #1, Seats # 1-3, etc.
ReplyDeleteThat, of course, would be if there was intelligent life in town hall...
Will these be connected to a computer that uses the internet?
ReplyDeleteOr translated
When will the debate start about hacking in, because if connected, it will be easy.
Town I.T. Department thinks it's pretty improbable they can be hacked.
ReplyDelete