Although nothing is technically wrong with the town’s voting machines, Town Clerk Janet Tracy met with the Board of Selectmen last week to discuss replacing the ones the town currently has because the company that makes the machines no longer is making new machines. “They are not in bad repair, but if something happens to them, we have no replacement parts,” she said.
Ms. Tracy was referencing the fact that the three machines used to count votes in Lakeville, are all Optech Eagle models, which is no longer making replacements, and therefore if one breaks, there would be no replacement machine that can be purchased. “We need new voting equipment,” she said. “The parts aren’t made any more, if it breaks in the middle of an election, we’re in trouble.”
Lakeville purchased two machines in 1995, and then later added a third refurbished model to go along with the others when a third precinct was added to the town. Now that Optech Eagles are no longer being made, Ms. Tracy wanted to move to the AccuVote machines, which are still selling refurbished models and are waiting to have their new model approved at both a federal and state level.
Ms. Tracy also pointed out that although the AccuVote is the option she likes better because replacements can be bought; it is a slower working machine than the ones Lakeville already uses, even though they would be newer models.
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