Opposed to SGARs — and remote participation
It may be tempting to think of the comforts of voting from home but not at the expense of potential fraud.
Article 36: Please vote yes to ban the use of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) in rodent control. These poisons are inhumane — they cause uncontrolled internal bleeding in their victims — and damage not only their targets but precious rare wildlife as well. There are more humane ways to control unwanted rodents; plus becoming a little more tolerant of them is not out of the question either. Let’s adopt a more compassionate approach towards other beings.
Article 27: This is about remote participation in annual and special Town Meetings. Please vote no at this time.
The technology to make sure the person voting online is in fact the person they say they are has not been adequately developed. Some may think this a minor problem in cases where one might vote for their spouse or neighbor with permission, even though that would of course be illegal.
The bigger and more serious danger, though not discussed sufficiently, is that in controversial matters, there are frequently special interests involved. Most of these have large financial resources and widespread technological capacity to create disproportionate fraudulent voting. This potential would reduce our confidence in the vote results.
It may be tempting to think of the comforts of voting from home — even at the expense of compromised deliberation — but not at the expense of enabling and tolerating potential fraud.
Tanya Gailus
Prescott Road
