LINCOLN — Lincoln voters saw some changes to their annual town and school district meetings this year.

Those gatherings were held at Burnham Hall this past Saturday, with the Lincoln School District holding its annual meeting during a recess of the town gathering that morning. The town has previously held the annual gatherings on the Monday evening prior to Town Meeting Day.

“Our hall was a little fuller than usual, with the highest vote count being 163, compared to the usual 75-120,” Lincoln Town Clerk Sally Ober reported.

Another change to the meetings this year: Lincoln voters used a new electronic voting method to weigh in on articles from the floor. Ober explained that residents were each issued a clicker and when voting, could press a “Yes” or “No” button to cast their vote.

“We had no technical glitches and nobody in the audience raised their hand with a question or concern about these devices,” she said. “We were all quite surprised at how well it went.”

Ober noted the town rented the technology and has around 30 days to decide whether to put its rental fees toward purchase of the voting system.

“That will be something the selectboard will decide,” she said.

At their town meeting this past Saturday, Lincoln voters approved $711,988 in general fund spending, an increase of 1.91% over the current year. That article passed by clicker vote, 101-5, according to draft meeting minutes.

Residents OK’d a highway fund spending request of $1,132,948, with $1,015,301 to be raised in taxes. That’s a decrease of 2.15% over the current year. Voters passed the article by clicker vote, 103-4.

An article asking whether the town should adopt its general fund budget by Australian ballot beginning in 2027 failed by clicker vote, 71-33. Voters also rejected an article asking if the town should adopt its highway fund budget by Australian ballot beginning in 2027. That article failed by clicker vote, 64-38.

Article 8 asked if the town should “vote to authorize a transfer for further restoration and improvement of existing Class 2 asphalt surface town highways, to be deposited in the paving reserve fund by Australian ballot beginning in 2027?” Voters defeated the article by clicker vote, 62-37.

Residents at the meeting also approved 28 voted appropriations to local organizations totaling $153,390, including $44,000 for the Lincoln Library and $56,000 for the Lincoln Volunteer Fire Company.

During the Lincoln School District’s annual meeting, voters OK’d a $5,407,140 spending plan for fiscal year 2027, an increase of 4.4% over the current year. Ober reported that an article asking whether the district should adopt its budget by Australian ballot beginning in FY28 was postponed indefinitely.

At the polls on Tuesday, voters re-elected incumbent Tim McGowan (three-year term) to the town’s selectboard in an uncontested race. Lori Atkins was the only candidate running for a two-year seat on the board.

Deborah Lubar ran unopposed for a three-year seat on the Lincoln School Board and school board member Peg Sutlive was uncontested for another two-year term.