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Taunton elections director defends procedures after public complaint about 2024 tabulator test
Summary
After a public complaint about a 2024 primary tabulator that showed votes during pre‑election testing, Elections Director Mark Pacheco briefed the municipal council: testing had left a non‑zero count, staff deployed a spare tabulator, voters used hand‑count bins and ballots were hand‑counted at close; Pacheco said the department’s fail‑safe worked and pledged improved communication.
Elections Director Mark Pacheco addressed the municipal council Aug. 26 following public input that raised questions about a tabulator used during the Sept. 2024 state primary. Pacheco said logic‑and‑accuracy testing — a statutorily required procedure before each election — had been performed, but one tabulator had not been fully reset after the test and showed ballots on the zero tape at poll opening.
"The fail safe worked," Pacheco told the council, explaining that precinct staff promptly alerted him, the Secretary of the Commonwealth was consulted, and a spare tabulator was brought to the polling location. He said no ballots were cast in the erroneous tabulator; voters used an auxiliary hand‑count bin and those ballots were hand‑counted at the close of polls in compliance with law. Pacheco said he issued additional instructions to staff and that the department maintains spare scanners and a public testing protocol to guard against similar problems.
Several election workers and residents spoke during public comment. Jean Brooks — who said she served as a frontline inspector — raised a complaint about communications and her later non‑reappointment as an election worker; Brooks said she raised concerns about a tabulator anomaly but did not receive timely answers. Director Pacheco said he had reached out to Brooks and would make himself available for a follow‑up conversation, while reaffirming that the department’s testing protocol and spare equipment prevented any disruption to vote counting.
Other poll workers and community members offered letters and on‑the‑record remarks in support of Pacheco’s leadership, training programs and post‑election debriefings. Several local poll workers said training materials, checklists and improved equipment checks had strengthened election procedures.
Pacheco urged any election worker with concerns to report them promptly to the warden and to the elections office so that the department can investigate and correct problems before election day.
