At the Wayland Annual Town Meeting of April 2012, it was resolved that electronic voting would be used in our open town meeting for a period of 3 years. Years 2013, 2014 and 2015. This April 2015 is the end of the 3 year resolution. It is now time to Re-Up Electronic Voting for another 3 years.
The resolution of the article will be:
LET IT BE RESOLVED, that Town Meeting endorses the use of an electronic voting service for all sessions of all town meetings through fiscal year 2019, subject to the Moderator's rules, and requests the Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee to include sufficient funding in the FY2017, FY2018, and FY2019 Omnibus Budget articles presented at the 2016, 2017, and 2018 Annual Town Meetings.
Q: Why 3 years?
A: Wayland gets a 30% discount on the electronic voting services when they commit to a 3 year lease.
Wayland’s annual town meeting will occur on April 6, 7, 8. The electronic voting article will appear at or near the end of the warrant and its very likely that April 8th is the date that this resolution will appear.
Electronic Voting at Town Meeting is not free but its benefits far outweigh its costs.
You know the benefits. You have used it for the past 3 years, so here are the actual costs during that time…
There are 9,000 Registered Voters in Wayland who can attend, vote, pay for and who are affected by every vote at town meeting.
• Over the past three years we have had 3 Annual Town Meetings. Electronic Voting has cost an average of $42.5K per ATM. Thats $4.72 per Registered Voter per Year to cover ATM.
• Over the past three years we have had 2 Special Town Meetings. Electronic Voting has cost an average of $18.3K per STM. Thats $2.04 per Registered Voter per Year to cover STM.
• When both ATM+STM are present within a year then its $6.72 per Registered Voter per Year.
Those were the Costs and these are the Benefits:
• Eliminates the Standing Counted Vote - 10, 15, 20, 30+ minutes of standing and being counted by roaming tellers. Ugh!
• Accurately counts every voter who wishes to vote - no disenfranchisement - eliminates moderater ‘human error’
• Puts PRIVACY in your hands as you sit in your chair and vote on the floor of town meeting.
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But lets put these costs more into perspective:
• Wayland has a $73M budget.
• The percentage of that budget associated with the cost of electronic voting is 83/1000th’s of one percent (0.083%)
• 96% of our budget is paid by our residential single family residences.
• The Median Assessment FY2015 for a single family residence is $570.6K
• Our tax rate is currently $18.39 per K$
• The Median annual tax bill is $10.49K for FY2015.
• The portion of that median tax bill for Electronic Voting is $9.11 per year.
The costs are equivalent to the price of a large cappicino - once a year!
The Median property in Wayland pays $9.11 per year for its Open Town Meeting to:
• Be more efficient with their time
• Be inclusive with their voting
• Be accurate with their vote counting
• Be private in their voting
• Make better decisions for all of the residents in town !
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Come to Wayland’s Annual Town Meeting April 6, 7, 8 and make sure you make it for April 8th - near the end of the Warrant when this electronic voting resolution will be voted on.
You can download, print, email and distribute this informational document below:
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If you have any questions you may contact:
Alan J. Reiss - alanjreiss@verizon.net
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