The $5 million worth of equipment that Philadelphia was required to buy to allow visually impaired voters to use the city's voting machines was used by 19 people in the November election, City Commissioner Margaret Tartaglione said.
That would be $263,157.89 per vote.
The city was forced to buy the equipment in 2005 after losing a federal lawsuit filed by advocates for the blind. Tartaglione also said that the voting system, which reads the office, party, and name for each candidate in each election will take about an hour to vote on in the April primary, which includes delegates, state committee people and at least five ballot questions. That can take a voting machine out of commission and cause tremendous backups, Tartaglione.
Tartaglione had favored allowing visually impaired voters to cast absentee ballots.
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