Residents in the Town of Wayland, Massachusetts have cut the time it takes to do their town meeting voting process by one third. Using electronic voting technology and wireless keypads from OTI, they were able to reduce the time involved with standing vote counts from thirty minutes or more to less than two minutes.
Massachusetts has been a pioneering state in citizen voting for more than three hundred years. They have a proud tradition of coming together to decide governance issues. In April of 2011, the state took another historic step forward when Wayland residents voted anonymously and electronically with Option Technologies’ interactive keypads.
The Wayland Electronic Voting Implementation Subcommittee (ELVIS), chaired by David Bernstein, worked in conjunction with the Option Technologies’ team to prepare document and prepare the polling process for the Town Meeting, check-in voters electronically and provide them with keypads. OTI provided 1600 advanced keypads, ten Welcome Stations and 19 on-site personnel to assist the registration team supervised by the Town Clerk.
As each motion was presented constituents to cast their votes using OptionFinder G3 keypads. Each voter received visual feedback on their keypad confirming their vote and the results were immediately tabulated and announced by the Moderator. This allowed for the meeting participants to move more quickly through a number of topics on the agenda.
“I loved it, “said Lynne Dunbrack. “Especially the privacy aspect. People get to vote their consciences…. I also think it’s a real timesaver when it comes to standing votes.”
Residents of Wayland are making a historic journey, taking the centuries-old ritual of town meetings into the digital age. “This is the first time in the commonwealth of Massachusetts that electronic voting has been used for a municipal meeting. And so far as I know, it’s the first time in the country” said Town Moderator Peter Gossels.
As voters entered, Option Technologies checked each person in electronically using special OptionPower Welcome Station software, and issued them a keypad. Participants voted on each item during a 30-second window declared by the moderator by pressing 1 for Aye, 2 for Nay and 3 to Abstain. The results and detailed tally were announced in less than a minute! The keypads allow for everyone to vote at the same simultaneously, saving valuable time during the meeting.
Mark Fite, President of Option Technologies, said that “OTI has delivered new technology for this meeting, including a new version of our OptionPower Welcome Station, which allowed staff to electronically check-in the voters and issue the keypads while providing optimal security and privacy. We were excited to work with the folks in Wayland to deliver this ground-breaking methodology.”
If you are interested in finding out more about electronic voting in your area, please call us at 407-872-3333, or visit our website at www.optiontechnologies.com