Town Meeting:Voting at Town Meeting

Quorum
The quorum for transaction of Town Meeting business is 100 members. The presence of a quorum is assumed, and all votes are valid unless a member rises to doubt the quorum before the results of the vote on a motion have been declared and a count shows that fewer than 100 members are present.

Voting Majorities
All subsidiary motions and most main motions require a simple majority vote for passage, but certain articles require more. For example, to authorize the Town to take land by eminent domain, change the zoning bylaw, or authorize a bond issue requires a two-thirds vote.

Electronic Voting
In 2014 the Town acquired an electronic vote recording system and adopted a set of bylaws for its use. Modifications to these rules may be suggested by the moderator but must be ratified by two-thirds vote of Town Meeting.

At check-in, each Town Meeting Member is issued a numbered, labeled hand-held device and will use that same device for the duration of Town Meeting. However, a Town Meeting member may report any malfunction by rising to a point of personal privilege, and will be issued a replacement device if necessary.

Votes may be taken electronically at the discretion of the Moderator or at the request of 20 Members who rise for the purpose. In practice, voice votes are used for procedural motions such as receiving reports, adjournment, taking articles out of order, and calling the question; electronic votes are used for main motions and amendments. In either case, Town Meeting Members must vote from their seats, either with their precinct or their board or committee.

When an electronic vote is initiated, a “countdown clock” is displayed on the projection screen showing the number of seconds remaining in the voting period. Voting ends and no further votes will be recorded when the countdown reaches zero.

Town Meeting Members vote by pressing “1” for “YES”, “2” for “NO” or “3” for “ABSTAIN”. The hand-held device will transmit each button press wirelessly and will then confirm the vote by displaying the button that was pressed and the text message, "Vote Recorded". Members may change their vote by pressing the "1", "2", or "3" buttons until the countdown ends. If a Member presses no button, that Member will be recorded as absent for the vote.

At the end of the voting period, the projection screen will display the totals for YES, NO, and ABSTAIN votes, the total number of votes received, and the success or failure of the vote which will depend on the type of majority required for success. The display will also cycle through the votes cast by each member, in alphabetical order grouped by precinct. Members may verify that their vote was registered correctly, or issue a challenge if the vote appears incorrect or if it appears that a vote was recorded for an absent Member.

All recorded votes of Town Meeting session are published on the Town’s website within 24 hours.

At the end of each session of Town Meeting, members MUST return their devices to the designated checkers. Under no circumstances may members allow their assigned device out of their presence, or use a device other than their own.

While the by-laws will still provide for standing votes and roll-call votes, it is expected that, unless significant problems develop with the electronic system, these methods will be functionally replaced by electronic vote recording.