Norwood Voters to Test Computerized Punch-Card Ballots in State Primary Election-September 12, 1980

Voter interest during Tuesday’s state primary election may center as much on voting mechanics as on political candidates, as Norwood rolls out a new computerized voting system.

Computerized Punch-Card System Trial

Voters across all precincts will utilize a new punch-card ballot format paired with computerized counting provided as a public service by Factory Mutual Engineering Company.

Trained demonstrators will be stationed at every precinct to instruct voters on how to record their choices by inserting a punch card into a specialized machine and marking selections with a stylus. Written instructional directions will also be posted clearly on each voting machine.

A similar computerized setup tested several years ago met with mixed reviews, primarily due to insufficient instructions provided to voters and election workers. According to the town clerk’s office, once precinct ballots are processed through the computer on election night, physical copies of the results will be transported directly to the town hall and posted for public inspection, as no results will be available at the computer center itself.

Town Clerk and Accountant Robert Thornton initiated the modernized voting system after supervising his first election last spring and concluding that traditional paper ballots and manual hand-counting resulted in unacceptable all-night delays for final vote tabulations.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger