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.

BHS' New North County Urgent Care Center Opens Tuesday

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:44PM / Monday, December 15, 2025

There is a waiting area and reception desk to the right of the Williamstown Medical entrance. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Staff and contractors were completing the final touches on Monday to prepare for the opening of Berkshire Health System's new urgent care center. 

 

Robert Shearer, administrative director of urgent care, said the work would be done in time for Berkshire Health Urgent Care North to open Tuesday at 11 a.m. in a wing of Williamstown Medical on Adams Road.  

 

The urgent care center will occupy a suite of rooms off the right side of the entry, with two treatment rooms, offices, amenities, and X-ray room. 

 

"This is a test of the need in the community, the want in the community, to see just how much we need," said Shearer. "One thing that I think Berkshire Health Systems has always been really good at is kind of gauging the need and growing based on what the community tells us. 

 

"And so if we on day one and two and three, find that we're filling this up and maybe exceeding the capacity of the two exam rooms and one provider, then we look to expand it."

 

Hours will be weekdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends from 8 to noon, but the expectation is that the center will "expand those hours pretty quick."

 

BHS has two urgent care centers in Lenox and in Pittsfield. The health system had tried a walk-in center at Williamstown nearly a decade ago but shuttered over low volume of patients.