Newcastle To Address Voter Privacy Concerns

Newcastle has a plan to alleviate concerns about privacy at the polls, town officials said at the Nov. 26 meeting of the Board of Selectmen.

Local attorney Jonathan Hull wrote a letter to Chairman Brian Foote to express his concern about the effect of a new vote-counting machine on voter privacy.

“As I could not fold my ballot, it was visible to everyone as I was waiting to place it in the… machine,” Hull wrote. “My ballot was also easily observed by the individual running the machine.”

“I hope you can adjust the voting process to avoid this problem in the future, while providing the ability to use the new machines,” he wrote.

Selectman Ben Frey said Newcastle Town Clerk Lynn Maloney “has a plan” to restore privacy to the process.

Town officials said other citizens voiced similar concerns, but only Hull expressed them in writing.

Special town meetingA brief special town meeting before the selectmen’s meeting resulted in the passage of a single article to authorize the board to dispose of surplus equipment.

Sign ordinance committeeThe ad hoc sign ordinance committee or “working group” will meet for the second time Tues., Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the town office.

Town administrator David Bolling encouraged the public to participate as the committee works to reform the town’s rules and regulations regarding signs.

The group consists of Selectman Chris Doherty, Planning Board member Bonnie Stone, Design Review Committee member Christopher Rice, Land Use Ordinance Review Committee member Mal Carey, Economic Development Initiative Chairman David Lawrence and citizen-at-large Mike Welch.

In other business, the selectmen appointed Nick Buck to fill a vacancy on the Land Use Ordinance Review Committee.