The days of yeas and nays will soon go down in the annals of city history.

The city will be unveiling its new $7,000 lighted voting board at next month’s Suffolk City Council meeting, ending the days of verbal voting by local lawmakers.

&uot;It was time to make the change,&uot; said Mayor Bobby L. Ralph. &uot;Everything else is computerized; there is no reason we shouldn’t be.

&uot;The voting board brings a degree of sophistication and professionalism that was missing from the council chambers.&uot;

Beside each council member’s name are three lights:

green for affirmative, red for negative and blue for abstention.

Each council member will be voting simultaneously, with all of the voting results appearing on the board at the same time, said Tim Kelley, the city’s cable coordinator.

As council members vote, City Clerk Erika Jenkins will see a prompt showing when everyone has cast their electronic ballots, Kelley said. At that time, she will flip a switch to reveal all the votes.

The technology will do more than show how city leaders vote, Kelley said.

The equipment will also be programmed to time speakers during public hearings and early and late comment periods, he said. Additionally, council members commenting on issues can hit a button to determine the order in which they will speak, he added.

Former city councils have been toying with the idea of investing in a voting board for years, Ralph said.

In fact, according to an old newspaper clipping, downtown entrepreneur Andy Damiani, a former mayor and council member, brought the idea up for consideration in the late 1970s.

Though surprised, Damiani said Friday he was glad the city will finally be taking his recommendation.

&uot;I think it’s best thing to do. It makes a lot of sense,&uot; he said. &uot;It will make voting go quicker…and it will keep the record straight for people in the audience.

&uot;Sometimes they may have trouble hearing a vote, but now they can see it.&uot;

The fact that all council members are voting concurrently is a benefit too, he added.

&uot;Everybody voting at the same time will take some of the politics out of it,&uot; Damiani said.

That is an advantage of the board, agreed Ralph.

&uot;It will prohibit voting …being based on anything but the merits of an issue,&uot; he said.

allison.williams@suffolknewsherald.com