Peter and Andy, Thank you for detailing a plan for revampment of our voting system that makes so much sense. It really is a no-brainer. And the percentages broken down by age that Peter provided are quite telling.
Kind Regards, Scott Clary 617-968-5769 Sent from a mobile device - please excuse typos and errors On Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 6:17 PM Peter Buchthal <pbucht...@gmail.com> wrote: > A town meeting is an all day plus affair which disenfranchises many > younger voters with families and other voters who are unable to attend all > day meetings. > > At our last special town meeting in early December we had 878 voters > check-in with the following distribution of voters by age. > 18-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80+ > 2% 5% 14% 16% 23% 24% 16% > > With only 640ish cast ballots for preference votes for the Community > Center and HCA rezoning, we lost 16/% of our checked-in voters as many > didn't stay to participate in both important votes. Please note that only > 21% of the vote is 49 or under. > > > With a poor representation of our younger residents, We need to revamp our > Town Meetings to better engage our 4876 registered voters. Certain votes > require 2/3 of a town meeting and with such poor voter turnout, the power > of a few well organized groups can dominate the decisions of the town > unjustly. > > I propose > 1) The town should purchase electronic voting devices to speed up all town > meetings. At least 60 towns in the commonwealth already successfully use > these devices. I bet we could save at least a couple of hours at each town > meeting by using this proven technology. List of Mass Towns > <https://www.meridiaars.com/electronic-voting-system-in-massachusetts-towns/> > > > 2) We should explore Andy Wang's earlier suggestion of separating the > debate/amend parts of a Town Meeting from the voting part. The town should > create a working group to explore the many different ways to increase voter > participation at Town Meetings. Maybe we can even get this new style of > Town Meeting ready for our March meeting. > > Many towns like Concord have town meetings that last several days and have > even poorer voter participation than ours Concord Town Meeting > Participation > <https://concordma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/43398/TOWN-MEETING-VOTER-PARTICIPATION-1997-2023>. > The working group should explore separating the time consuming parts of a > Town Meeting from the voting part. The first day of the Town Meeting > could work through, amend and debate all contentious warrants up to an > actual vote. At a certain point when a warrant is ready to vote, the > moderator should table the vote until the continuation of the 2nd day of > the town meeting. Information about the 1st day's work will be posted > online with a video that voters would be able to review. The 2nd day of > only voting would be a couple of days after the first and begin at a set > time and be finished hopefully after only spending a couple of minutes per > vote if the Town purchases electronic voting devices. > > Peter Buchthal > Weston Rd > > > > On Tue, Dec 12, 2023 at 9:01 AM Andy Wang <andyrw...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> As of March, according to the election results. >> >> Andy >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Tue, Dec 12, 2023 at 8:36 AM Garrick Niemiec < >> garrickniemiec...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> >>> On Mon, Dec 11, 2023, 9:52 PM Garrick Niemiec < >>> garrickniemiec...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> 5000 voters are on record >>>> >>>> On Mon, Dec 11, 2023, 9:36 PM Barbara Low <barbara_...@hotmail.com> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> I thought there were about 5000 residents, not voters. >>>>> Does anyone know the actual number of voters? >>>>> >>>>> Sent from my T-Mobile 5G Device >>>>> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg> >>>>> ------------------------------ >>>>> *From:* Lincoln <lincoln-boun...@lincolntalk.org> on behalf of Sara >>>>> Mattes <samat...@gmail.com> >>>>> *Sent:* Monday, December 11, 2023 8:22:46 PM >>>>> *To:* Garrick Niemiec <garrickniemiec...@gmail.com> >>>>> *Cc:* Lincoln Talk <lincoln@lincolntalk.org> >>>>> *Subject:* Re: [LincolnTalk] Wow 800 Lincoln folk vote at STM >>>>> >>>>> Most towns do NOT do this. >>>>> Laws which govern Open Town Meeting towns are the determining factors. >>>>> Perhaps all who want to come up with some new concepts should get >>>>> together, like LRHA, and research and propose to the town. >>>>> That would be really instructive and constructive. >>>>> >>>>> March will have a ballot, in addition to the TM vote -to approve the >>>>> $$ for the Community Center. >>>>> One could skip TM and simply vote at the ballot box the following >>>>> Monday. >>>>> >>>>> Again, I urge all who are interested in this issue to form a study >>>>> group and see what options are available. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> ------ >>>>> Sara Mattes >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Dec 11, 2023, at 8:09 PM, Garrick Niemiec < >>>>> garrickniemiec...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> I couldn't disagree more...we need to make voting accessable...time >>>>> for change Sara.. time for change now. Let us vote electronically...all of >>>>> us remotely. C'mon most towns do it now. >>>>> >>>>> New comers including my family all recognize this! >>>>> >>>>> The system is sooo antiquated. >>>>> >>>>> Join us now before the march town meeting fails us again! Again and >>>>> again and again! >>>>> >>>>> As a good friend said at STM we are not spending our money wisely! >>>>> You know that...a school project for 30M turns into 100 M. Driven by >>>>> current Lincoln politics including selects. Yikes! >>>>> >>>>> Now RLF is bankrupt? What's going on here. We're in a tailspin. Any >>>>> ideas? >>>>> >>>>> On Mon, Dec 11, 2023, 6:53 PM Sara Mattes <samat...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Garrick, >>>>> Town Meeting is open to all who care enough to attend. >>>>> It not a drive-by! >>>>> When people make noise about wanting a secret ballot at a ballot box, >>>>> there is no evidence that indicates a huge leap in participation! >>>>> I don’t like the way thing unfolded or the (predictable) outcome, but >>>>> it was not because voting was not available tall. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> ------ >>>>> Sara Mattes >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Dec 11, 2023, at 5:53 PM, Garrick Niemiec < >>>>> garrickniemiec...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> 5000 are registered voters...this is NOT the Lincoln way!!! >>>>> -- >>>>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>>>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >>>>> Browse the archives at >>>>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>>>> Change your subscription settings at >>>>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >>> Browse the archives at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>> Change your subscription settings at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>> >>> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >> Browse the archives at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> >> -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
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