All meetings in Truro are remote only. Go to truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. The agenda includes instructions on how to join.
Thursday, August 5
- Climate Action Committee, 10:30 a.m.
Friday, August 6
- Select Board work session, 10 a.m.
Monday, August 9
- Energy Committee, 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, August 10
- Select Board, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, August 11
- Planning Board work session, 5 p.m.
Thursday, August 12
- Housing Authority, 4:15 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Selects to Reconsider Tabulator
The hand-cranked voting machine is still in peril, despite a town meeting vote rejecting an article to recommend the adoption of a new counting system.
Currently, Truro counts ballots by hand. The select board voted in January 2020 to buy an automatic counting system, officially named the ImageCast Precinct Optical Scan Tabulator, but reversed the decision after receiving pushback from the community. The town meeting vote was advisory, to gauge support for the new counting system.
At the July 27 select board meeting, members indicated that they did not believe the vote at town meeting carried much weight.
“It was getting late,” said vice chair Kristen Reed. The article was number 43 on the warrant, literally the last one before the meeting was adjourned.
“We were baking in the sun, and we were starting to lose people,” she said.
Reed also pointed to the fact that the vote was close. The moderator called the vote herself, rather than conducting a hand count, which would have dragged the meeting out even longer.
Select board member Sue Areson said that it seemed like the voters were confused about what the article meant, pointing to the lack of discussion about the article before the vote. “There’s a lot of confusion around this, and I would like to give residents another go at it,” she said.
Board chair Bob Weinstein concurred. He said that voters should understand that the vote at town meeting was only advisory, meaning the select board can act however it wishes on the issue. He said the select board will revisit the issue, so that it can weigh the “ongoing cost of the technology” and “the time and staff engagement” required for the current system.
Reed told the Independent that town staff are currently working on scheduling a presentation from a representative from Dominion Voting Systems Corp., the company that makes the automatic tabulator. —Ben Glickman