The Hampden Board of Selectmen has voted unanimously not to seek funding from Town Meeting to purchase voting machines this year. Selectmen’s Chairman John D. Flynn said a study committee, with Registrar Arthur Booth as a member, recommended against seeking funds from Town Meeting to purchase voting machines this year.
Booth said he did not believe the town would have excess funds to purchase a voting machine in the fiscal 2012 budget. Voting machines cost between $10,000 and $12,000. The town has one voting precinct and would need one or two machines.
Following the state primary last September, Selectman Vincent Villamaino complained that he waited until nearly midnight for voting results before giving up. At a selectman’s meeting last fall, James Gillen, a town resident and former city editor at The Republican, said the town follows an antiquated process in counting votes by hand.
Gillen said the newspaper frequently waited until midnight, 1 or 2 a.m. for election results. Town Clerk Eva A. Wiseman said the only complaints she has received about the late results are from the media. Flynn and Booth both said it is part of the town’s tradition to count the votes by hand.
Full Article: http://www.masslive.com/metrowest/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-31/1302160848323740.xml&coll=1