New England Town Meeting Voting is not known for social distancing. Usually several hundred citizens squeeze into a meeting room or gymnasium and vote on local matters dear to their hearts. So how do you do ‘contactless voting’ and accommodate COVID-19 restrictions into your voting sessions?
The residents of Leicester, MA got together on September 26th in record-breaking numbers to vote on a proposition to borrow $91 million to relocate one of their schools.
Town Meeting in any New England town ought to be a simple thing. A motion is brought to a vote and people hold colored cards in the air to indicate whether or not they support the motion. If the color associated with the Ayes dominates the color associated with the Nays, they Ayes have it. That’s pretty straightforward. Shouldn’t take a lot of time.
Town of Uxbridge, MA replaced its tradition of colored cards with an electronic voting system that enabled residents to vote immediately and anonymously.
Since the earliest days, the annual Town Meeting in Uxbridge, Massachusetts has been rife with passion when questions are put on the table relating to the public funding of schools. In 1732, the town had to hold two votes before it could set aside the funds for a school.
