By Mike DeNardo
Published April 10th 2008 in Philadelphia all news radio station KYW 1060
With
46,000 new voters registered for the primary, the city is making sure
the public knows that new computerized machines are equipped with
devices to help the visually-impaired. Here's deputy city commissioner
Fred Voigt:
"Every polling place, according to law, is required to have the
capability for a sight-impaired person to independently -- that is,
without help -- vote."
Blind voters are given an audio headset and a wallet-sized keypad to navigate through the ballot and record their choices.
Voigt says it can take up to 20 minutes to complete the process. He recommends that all voters familiarize themselves with the ballot before they enter the booth.
In last November's general election, Voigt says, 17 people used the visual-assistance device to vote.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.