New Voting Machines Coming To North Adams

The city of North Adams plans to upgrade the machines that count voters’ ballots in every election.

The City Council has appropriated $25,500 to purchase five new voting machines, the first the city has acquired since 2007.

The Berkshire Eagle reports that as the old machines become obsolete, City Clerk Marilyn Gomeau brought the proposal for new machines forward, ahead of the next election cycle.

The new machines are just an updated version of the old ones and were purchased through the same vendor, according to Mayor Thomas Bernard.

The machines are not connected to the internet and are stored in the vault in the city clerk’s office. In the event of failure, the paper ballots still can be hand-counted. The life expectancy of the new machines exceeds 20 years, according to Gomeau.