And the count goes on.

That’s was the word Wednesday, from some towns experiencing their first referendum, following retirement of the traditional town meeting. Whereas sentiments from the meeting’s floor were easily tallied, the ballot box proved more time-consuming, in voting, and counting.

In Rumford, for example, voters were offered well-lit seats and magnifying glasses to use in poring over their lengthy agate-typed ballots prior to voting. Reaction to the town’s first local referendum was seemingly mixed, as some residents enjoyed this chance to study, while others decried the more detached, impersonal nature of the booth.

At least Rumford had electronic vote-counters, which survived, unscathed, the town’s big ballot.

Over in Waldoboro, another community that ditched town meeting for referendum votes, its ballots were being hand-counted – slowly. One issue the coastal town considered was a citizen-initiated effort to resurrect town meetings, a measure the laboring ballot-counters probably endorsed.

After all, voters did.

Although counting the entire 65-article ballot lasted into Thursday, the question of returning to town meeting had been tallied, and it passed, the town office said, leaving Waldoboro’s first referendum as apparently its last.

There’s no perfect method of local governance. The problems of town meeting, such as low turnouts, or issues being controlled by voting blocs, aren’t solved by proffering a ballot such as Rumford’s – a series of complicated funding questions in smallish typeface – but, rather, replaced by new pitfalls.

The question posed by citizens of Waldoboro – should we return to town meeting? – is likely to arise around coming Election Days in towns, such as Rumford, that changed to ballots. Referendums and town meetings have their pros and cons, and voter sentiments could shift as familiarity with the new conjures yearning for the old.

Changing forms of voting strives to improve democracy. It’s worthwhile, then, for towns that have shifted from town meetings to referendum, to give the question of returning to town meeting a permanent spot on the ballot, so if voters do become dissatisfied with the new system, they can easily bring back the old.

Or, conversely, they can give the new system a hearty endorsement, and let those entrusted with managing the elections know they are doing the will of the people. Rumford’s selectmen are set to take up the issue of whether to return to town meeting during the board’s meeting on June 21.

It’s in democracy’s best interest to let voters decide whether they like how they’re voting.