Australian Ballot And Town Meetings Don’t Mix, Say Selectmen

Special Town Meeting is less than a week away, but it looks unlikely that any Westford Town Meeting is adopting the Australian Ballot system anytime soon.

The Board of Selectmen heard input from Bill Taffel of Coldspring Road, who was  advocating bringing the system into Westford’s Town Meetings.

First developed in 19^th century Australia, with the “Australian Ballot,” voters anonymously cast a pre-printed ballot into a voting box, which are later tallied. Today it is more commonly known as the secret ballot.

Secret ballots are now almost universal during elections in Western countries, including Westford’s municipal elections, where town officers are chosen. However, most significant municipal matters, such as the approval of town budgets, goes before voters assembled in Town Meetings, the legal legislative body of the town.

Taffel cited a variety of reasons on why using a secret ballot during Town Meetings would be beneficial, most notably the much larger number of voters that participate in elections versus Town Meeting.

Bob Price, a member of a committee designed nearly a decade ago to look at the matter of possibly changing Westford’s Town Meetings, rose in opposition to Taffel’s views, saying that the committee concluded using the Australian ballot would only confusion.

George Murray, another member of that committee, also vociferously supported a practice Taffel opposed called “stacking,” where a small group from a particular neighborhood or group of shared interests attend Town Meeting solely for the purpose of supporting or opposing one particular issue, then leaving after that issue is decided.

Taffel believed that the practice caused potential intimidation for those who might have opposing views. Murray on the other hand saw stacking as a quintessential expression of direct democracy, continuing a tradition from ancient Greece where impassioned citizens become more informed on matters that impact them, rallying them to participate in their government.

While the four Selectmen in attendance were generally appreciative that Taffel took the time to discuss the matter, each opposed use of the Australian Ballot at Town Meeting or other forms of Town Meetings for various reasons.

Selectman Kelly Ross spoke indirectly about the SB2 Town Meeting format in New Hampshire, where amendments made on what will go onto ballots can cause significant problems.

Selectman Don Siriani, who said he had worked on issues of municipal governance during his time working for elected officials on Beacon Hill, wasn’t sure that the decision of Town Meeting didn’t reflect the views of those who didn’t attend. There he was echoing an earlier sentiment from Murray that voters who don’t attend Town Meeting may be completely satisfied regardless of the decisions Town Meeting makes, eliminating the need for them to attend in the first place.

“I’m a passionate believer in Town Meeting with all of its flaws,” said Selectman Andrea Peraner-Sweet. “It’s not perfect, it’s messy, but it’s one of the last bastions of democracy. People can come, they make that choice to come or not to come.”

Taffel indicated to the board that his main goal from the evening was to see if the Selectmen were interested in pursuing the issue of Australian Ballots.

Ironically enough, the discussion concluded with no vote of any kind.