Clicker Shock: Brewster Rejects Electronic Voting - Annual Town Meeting Tackles Tame 21-article Warrant

BREWSTER – By a margin of eight votes — too close for an old-fashioned hand count — town meeting voters rejected a petition article that called for the use of handheld electronic voting devices at future town meetings.

 It was one of the few points of debate in the otherwise tame 21-article warrant, dispatched by voters in less than three hours Monday night. With very little discussion, voters approved the town’s $27.7 million operating budget, $17.2 million Nauset school assessment and $13.1 million elementary school budget, along with the Cape Tech school assessment at almost $1.8 million. There were 296 registered voters present, just 96 over the quorum required to do business, likely because of the lack of controversial warrant articles.

 On a petition article organized by resident Ed Wanamaker, voters were asked to appropriate $35,000 to buy around 800 electronic voting machines for use at town meeting, similar to the ones used by voters in many other area towns. Wanamaker argued that some citizens don’t want to come to town meeting to vote “because knowing how someone votes on sensitive issues can affect a person’s feelings toward their neighbors and could have a negative effect on their friendships and on their private business.” In addition to providing better privacy, the electronic clickers would increase the speed and accuracy of votes, he argued.

 Resident David Faherty, who is also a candidate for select board, agreed with Wanamaker, saying the electronic voting system might have prevented the “fiasco” when a contentious vote at last November’s special town meeting was initially rejected and then passed upon reconsideration.

Select board member Mary Chaffee strongly opposed the proposal as an unnecessary expense. Electronic voting machines have failed during town meeting in some communities, she noted, while the traditional hand-counts have worked well for centuries. “We can all see the hands raised in the air. Our votes, like our comments, are made publicly. With electronic voting, town meeting votes become invisible,” Chaffee said.

Open town meeting has long been considered the purest form of democracy, resident Bill Henchy said. “It has functioned exceptionally well. The running of the meeting has been left, in Brewster, to a series of very competent moderators, from my 40 years here in town, and certainly before,” he said. 

 “How open is a town meeting when people won’t come because they are in fear of jeopardizing their incomes and friendships?” Wanamaker asked. “That’s not an open town meeting.”

Resident KJ Stillbower opposed the petition article. “There are plenty of reasons that people don’t come to town meeting,” he said. “But I still don’t believe that it’s necessary for us to adopt an opaque voting mechanism that will then limit people’s ability to analyze the results for accuracy in real time.”

 “Town meeting is self-government at its best. It is supposed to be a public process,” said resident Pete Dahl, a candidate for select board. “This solution detracts from what I think is the real purpose of town meeting, which is neighbors discussing and determining their collective needs. That’s what goes on here,” he said. Electronic clickers could fail or could be handed to others for proxy voting, and represent “a solution in search of a problem,” Dahl said.

After a group hand count proved too close to call, Town Moderator Charlie Sumner had election workers tally the votes using old-fashioned mechanical clickers. The article failed on a vote of 123 to 131.

Had it not been for dialogue in the weeks leading up to town meeting, the most-discussed topic likely would have been a petition article from the Brewster Ponds Coalition calling for the town to create a comprehensive wastewater management plan. But Coalition Vice President John Keith said the town and its water resources task force offered to incorporate some of its suggestions into the town’s integrated wastewater management plan instead, with funding for additional work. It is clear that efforts to protect the groundwater and waterways from the effects of nutrient pollution will be a long-term process requiring future financial investments, he noted.

 “We appreciate the effort of the select board to address our concerns and to accelerate the process of protecting the water resources of Brewster,” Keith said. “We believe that everybody has the same objective, and that is to keep the waters of Brewster clean and usable and as healthy as possible.”

Voters approved the measure, which was included in the capital and special projects article, and the Ponds Coalition then moved that its original petition article be indefinitely postponed, as planned.

In other action, voters authorized the continuation of the town’s preschool family support pilot program and unanimously adopted two articles providing property tax breaks for veterans. By more than a majority vote, residents endorsed a nonbinding citizen petition extending Medicare benefits to all Massachusetts residents, and adopted a measure to create a stabilization fund for special education costs in the Nauset schools.

 The meeting, which convened at 6 p.m. at the Stony Brook School, adjourned at around 8:45 p.m.