TOWN MEETING ELECTRONIC VOTING PILOT TEST

There will be a pilot demonstration of electronic voting at 2019 Annual Town Meeting, on Tuesday April 9, followed by a survey seeking voter views. Paper ballots also will be distributed on Tuesday, and any voter who does not wish to participate in the demonstration may vote by paper ballot.

Exploration of electronic voting is prompted by a desire to increase participation in Town Meeting through improving use of voters’ time, as well as by the positive experience of many other Massachusetts town meetings with electronic voting, reporting greater efficiency and confidence in vote-count.

The demonstration will be free of charge to the Town, courtesy of Turning Technologies. Eleven towns in Massachusetts use Turning Technologies clickers and electronic polling software, eight of which hold open town meetings, and all of which give positive reviews. General information about the clickers that Concord will test may be found on the Turning Technologies’ website: https://www.turningtechnologies.com/lcd/. The clickers will operate on a local secure radio frequency network for vote transmission and collection.

After brief instruction and two test votes, Town Meeting will vote on use of the clickers to vote on Tuesday evening’s articles.

Whether Concord ultimately adopts some form of electronic voting at Town Meeting will be a community decision. The pilot demonstration will provide important data for an informed choice.