Letter: Night of the Living Voting Clickers

To the Editor:

I did a little research regarding the proposed Williamstown electronic voting devices and am offering more information than was provided by Selectman Daley.

First: The cost of the devices is $26,000 for 1,000. Williamstown, actually has more poverty than Lanesboro, and I’m sure 26 needy families could make good use of $1,000.

The devices appear to be of Asian origin and are identified as SunVote M30 Response Keypads. Other towns in New England have begun using these or similar devices. Williamstown appears to be gung-ho to jump on the bandwagon.

They are designed to work via Bluetooth radio waves. The keypads use two lithium CR2032 batteries each. They employ two-way RF 2.4GHz digital communication technology.

Some questions are:

Are they safe to use for everybody?
Could they affect anyone's medical devices?
Could having 1,000 keypads simultaneously pressed have cumulative, unpredictable consequences?

Up to 30 percent of the population may be sensitive to RF radio waves. Common symptoms may be anxiety, hyperactivity, irritability, depression, chest tightness, fatigue, memory loss, headaches, dizziness, sleep issues, noise sensitivity, ringing in the ears, burning eyes, nervous bladder, heart palpitations, muscle tension, joint pain and skin rashes.

Can these keypads be hacked? Can voters/entities obtain additional keypads and vote more than once without being easily detected?

Conversely, how do you prevent the people sitting near you from seeing your vote?

There may be advantages to using these keypads. People may be more willing to oppose out-of-control spending if they can do it anonymously. However, it may be premature to adopt using these keypads without more longitudinal study.

Ken Swiatek
Williamstown, Mass.

Williamstown Backs Parents on School Amendment, Passes All But One Article

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
11:17PM / Tuesday, May 19, 2026

School Committee Chair Julia Bowen speaks in favor of the school budget, saying difficult decisions had to be made.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Annual town meeting voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to increase the $30.9 million operating budget of the Mount Greylock Regional School District by $120,000 to fund a math interventionist at the elementary school.

 

The fiscal 2027 assessment of $16,963,270 to the Mount Greylock Regional School District then passed easily by voice vote.

 

All town meeting questions on the 32-article warrant passed easily with the exception of a request by the Select Board to initiate special legislation to allow the town administration to determine the type of media for legal notices. 

 

The addition of the math interventionist generated the most discussion, focusing on the educational and financial effects of the position.

 

A group of WES parents concerned about mathematics instruction at the school had been advocating for the additional funds, about 0.7 percent of the proposed assessment.

 

Jenna Hasenkampf, a member of the School Council that unanimously recommended the post, made the amendment, which was quickly seconded.

 

"Our MCAS state math scores at WES have declined every year since 2019," said Hasenkampf. "Our iReady assessments, which is our current math curriculum from this school year, show that 40 percent of our students are currently below grade level by at least one grade level, if not more, in math, as of December 2025."