Goodyear City Council Moves to Electronic Voting 

Goodyear City Clerk, Darcie McCracken, looks over the new Goodyear City Council chambers. Darcie also serves as Vice President of the statewide AZ Municipal Clerks Association and recognizes that local government is undergoing a transformation to modernize systems to benefit council members and Goodyear citizens.

St. Cloud, Minn., July 7, 2022 – The Goodyear City Council in Arizona is making the move to electronic voting to benefit both the council and citizens.

Each city council member will have a tablet at their desk in the City Council chamber they will use to motion and cast votes, and large video screens will be installed on the walls of the chamber to display the vote tally in real-time. 

Verbal roll-call voting, where the clerk calls out each council member’s name and waits for a response before calling the next, is being replaced with smart devices.  

With the secure tablet app: 

• • Votes are simultaneous.  
  • Votes can be cast in person in council chambers or in remote meetings. 
  • All votes are private until tallied, removing potential concerns about pressure or undue influence.  

All meeting action is automatically captured in a log for meeting minutes. Additionally, a visual public speaker timer will aid public speakers and a discussion management system will ensure everyone is heard while maintaining smooth, orderly meetings.

OpenMeeting Technologies tally board and touchscreen e-voting app. 

Goodyear City Council is making improvements to how they operate to benefit council members and the public. The new e-voting system will improve efficiency, eliminate the challenge of hearing who made motions and seconds and create a visual aid for the public to follow the action in council meetings.  

The system will help to save time and reduce confusion as meeting actions are displayed on the screens. As public interest in local government continues to grow, improving citizens’ experience in legislative meetings becomes increasingly important. 

The initiative is part of a larger modernization that includes a new building. The city is focused on making smart investments that improve processes and benefits for the public. With the adoption of e-voting, the City of Goodyear moves into the 21st century of digital meeting management, joining other local legislative leaders across the county focused on modernization.  

“We are thrilled to be a part of Goodyear’s modernization,” said Mark Netsch, Director at OpenMeeting Technologies. “Interest in our system is the highest we have seen. The pandemic revealed shortcomings in the old-fashioned way of operating, and now we are seeing a transition away from pen and paper to electronic voting and digital meeting management.”  

About OpenMeeting Technologies: OpenMeeting Technologies is a pioneer in electronic voting and legislative meeting management. They are helping city councils and county boards modernize their meetings by offering touchscreen tablet electronic voting, paperless agendas, discussion management, and public display. This system improves efficiency, public perception and transparency as well as overall board member and public experience. 

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OpenMeeting Technologies is the legislative meeting software solution you’ve been looking for. With one powerful platform, you have easy meeting setup, agenda management, automatic documentation, visualization of procedures, and more! Your board members, citizens, clerk, chair, and everyone else involved will thank you!