Vote Update Comes With Lofty Price Tag

The August recess in Congress seems like a good time to replace the voting display board that dates back more than 30 years.

A statement from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office explained: "The implementation of the new main displays will provide the House of Representatives with a more dependable voting display that is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as it will ensure increased clarity and readability."

No mention of the cost there, although some digging back into testimony to House appropriators a year earlier reveals a $6 million price tag House Clerk Lorraine Miller said at that time that with the old board lawmakers’ names still needed to be physically rearranged whenever there was a change in membership, which she called a time-consuming process.

I’m all for saving time for clerks and making it easier to read votes (although if you know a representative’s party these days you can pretty much guess which way he or she is voting), but $6 million to get the job done? Wow!