Danvers To Consider Shift To Electronic Voting At Town Meeting

DANVERS, MA — Danvers town meeting member Lauren Steeves' push for electronic voting to replace the traditional voice voting at annual and special town meetings will come before the Select Board in two weeks after she presented Board members with a 70-page research document that included cost estimates on making the switch.

Steeves has pushed for electronically recorded voting several times over the past year, following a contested vote on the floor of town meeting in which several members who have spoken publicly did not believe that the determination of the moderator on a voice vote outcome matched the actual intent of the body.

Steeves cited a voting discrepancy during the 2023 recall petition as a case that she said "showed in real time how easily a voice vote can produce the wrong outcome simply based on personal perception or volume, and not accuracy."

There was a similar debate during last spring's town meeting when a move to direct the Planning Board to reconsider the town's zoning changes to comply with the MBTA Communities Act failed by what appeared to be a very close voice vote.

Steeves said a survey of town meeting members that she conducted determined that 64 percent of members were in favor of moving to electronic voting, with 10 percent against and 26 percent undecided.

She said that poll, in which 58 percent of town meeting members responded to the survey, represents a "clear and credible" expression of town meeting members for the change.

Steeves also said her research into the cost of buying the voting machines indicated it would be far less than the $40,000 figure previously cited.

"That figure applies to Andover, which runs an open town meeting where they have to account for 26,000 registered voters," she said. "Danvers has 149 members. Our cost is a fraction of that."

She said she obtained a cost estimate quote of $9,980 for what it would cost for the Danvers town meeting membership.

Marblehead, which has an open town meeting in which all adult residents can attend and vote, uses electronic voting.

"We rely on technology every day in government," she said. "Laptops, microphones, iPads, virtual meetings. Town meeting has evolved before. This is simply the next step to ensure accuracy, fairness and accountability. ...

"The bottom line is that we cannot know with 100 percent certainty what we do and do not vote in favor of without this investment. The intent is to ensure accuracy."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)