Arlington will be looking at ways to modernize its election practices as concerns about voter participation and efficiency are examined.

Town Meeting could vote on whether to create an election modernization study group that would address various aspects of the electoral process in Arlington. The article was presented to the Select Board during a meeting on Monday, Feb. 25, by Town Meeting member Christa Kelleher.

“I know residents of Arlington would like assurances that the town is doing everything in its power to make registration and casting ballots easy,” Kelleher said.

Kelleher, who was part of a citizens’ petition to get the initiative onto the Town Meeting warrant, said that a lot of facets that go into a town election need to be examined.

“I suggest that we re-examine our rules about who can vote, our voter registration practices, available voting times, our method of voting, perhaps our choice of machines and our engagement with the voting public,” Kelleher said. “We want and deserve an electoral process that keeps pace with the times and we should hold ourselves to high standards when it comes to elections.

Other communities have recently sponsored similar initiatives, including Somerville, which created the Clean and Open Elections Task Force in 2018, which led to the city adopting several different updates to its electoral process, including relocating polling places away from houses of worship, making election data more easily accessible online, and adopting ranked choice voting.

The Select Board endorsed the idea, with Board member Clarissa Rowe saying that she would like to assist the group once her term on the board expires.

“I’m all for it and once I am off this Board, I’d like to help,” Rowe said.

Select Board Chair Daniel Dunn said that he had already put in some thought to who would be apart of the group.

“I was thinking nine members, a member of the Select Board or their designee, the Board administrator, Town Clerk or a designee, Registrar or a designee, Town Moderator or designee, School Department or designee, and that leaves three possessions to be appointed,” Dunn said.

Later discussion between the Board brought the idea that the group could also potentially include a high school student, as well as a local resident who is legally living in the town but is not a US citizen.

“I think we tend to appoint designees that we know, instead of getting some new people in,” Rowe said. “I would like to have not so many official people involved, it would be good to get some new faces involved.”

The Board will vote to approve the warrant article at a later meeting, at which point it would be set to later be voted on at Town Meeting in April.