Five years ago, Harvard was ready to replace its optical scan voting machine, but the state was not. A similar warrant article for a new ballot box passed Town Meeting in 2008 with only two dissents, but there were no state-approved optical scan machines to buy at the time and the allocated funds lapsed.
Voting machine models must have both federal and state approval. The Finance Committee recommends allocating $8,000 for a new machine, up $1,000 from the 2008 expected cost.
According to Town Clerk Janet Vellante, a new ballot box is needed because the parent company of the current one, an Optech Eagle, no longer supports it. The state Elections Division has approved two optical scan models to choose from, and Vellante expects a new one to operate like the current one, except voters will have an opportunity to review ballots that are rejected for electronic tally before they are set aside for a hand count.
