A Norwood resident told Norwood-Norfolk School Board members last week that he still had concerns about the close results during this year’s school budget vote.
“I have some concerns relative to the overwhelming vote, the two votes that passed the budget last month,” Robert Haggett said. “It concerns me that a budget of this size can pass by two votes. That certainly doesn’t constitute much of a majority.” The district’s $19.2 million spending plan, which called for a 5.82 percent tax levy increase, passed by a razor-thin 288-286 margin during the May school budget vote.
However, 581 district residents went to the polls and 22 ballots were voided because the residents did not vote “yes” or “no” on the voting machine for one of the propositions or their votes did not register in the machine, District Clerk Barbara Halpin said.
… Mrs. Halpin said they total up the number of people who voted on each machine after the polls are closed. “When you total up the yes’s and the no’s, they never match,” she said.
Some voters may not have cast their ballot for the budget, may have voted only for board members or may have voted improperly by pulling the lever down and back up before they opened the curtain to the polling machine, she suggested.
“They’re not typically voided votes, they’re votes that they just didn’t say yes or no on the machine,” Mrs. Halpin said. “It shouldn’t even be called a voided vote. If you went into the machine and decided you didn’t want to vote on the budget or didn’t want to vote on the board members, we have no way of knowing that. When I open the back of the machine and we read the numbers on the back of the machine, those are the totals.”
“In other words what you’re telling me is, if the person did not want to vote for one issue, then their ballot is voided automatically?” Mr. Haggett wondered.
But that wasn’t the case, according to Superintendent Elizabeth A. Kirnie, who said the propositions that are voted on by the residents are still counted.
Full Article: Daily Courier-Observer | Haggett Shares NNCSVote Concerns.