First, congratulations to our moderator for keeping our recent Town Meeting on track despite the numerous last-minute changes in the wording of various articles. However, my husband and I find it amazing that in 2013, a meeting that brings hundreds of citizens out to vote on contentious issues and major town expenditures operates as though Harvard were still in the pre-electronic age.
For decades both of us have actively participated in state and national professional meetings with hundreds of voting delegates, where it is extremely simple for participants to follow what is being discussed and voted on. Not here! Harvard’s Town Meeting procedures are little changed from when we moved to town 50 years ago.
The Harvard Town Meeting is often extremely confusing to the voters, despite the best efforts of the moderator and participants. We depend on being able to hear and understand what is being said at the microphones in a room with very poor acoustics. What if we were able to visually track the wording of articles under consideration as well as all proposed amendments?
In this day and age, it should not require much expense or effort to accomplish such a major improvement in town meetings. The expertise and the tools exist here, or are relatively inexpensive. Having instantly visible wording projected would basically require a laptop computer, an appropriate projector, one or two large “movie” screens, and an adequate typist in place during the meeting.
In meetings set up for visual tracking, the articles are projected as they are being discussed, the typist puts up the suggested amendments as they are being presented, and everyone in the room can see what we are talking about and voting on. Think of the trees we could save and the increased understanding and efficiency with which we could do business! Maybe we could even get a larger proportion of the townspeople to participate.
Dave and Ginger Latham
Old Littleton Road
