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Southborough delays use of electronic clickers after synchronization problems at town meeting
Summary
Town officials deferred wider use of handheld electronic voting devices after a recent town meeting experienced wake/sync delays, confusing voter feedback and a wave of mistrust; moderators plan more testing and may use tellers or ballots for close votes.
Town of Southborough officials decided not to press ahead with using handheld electronic clickers for an upcoming large town meeting after devices failed to register reliably at a recent session, creating confusion among voters.
Committee members described a technical issue in which the clickers “sleep” when idle and require an initial wake press and additional time to synchronize; that, combined with a moderator’s 20‑second vote window, led to many residents pressing buttons twice and declaring the system “not working.” A committee member who reviewed the equipment said, “Jim was the person that made that decision right off the rip.”
The committee’s discussion focused on two near‑term workarounds. First, the group…
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