Mechanical voting systems can take many forms. This includes the use of stones in ancient Greece and the use of marbles in The Gambia It also includes—now considered “old technology” —mechanical voting machines that were once used extensively in the United States and, to a lesser degree, in a small number of other countries around the world. The advent of these mechanical voting machines], when they first appeared, resulted in faster and relatively accurate vote counting.
**Mechanical voting/tabulation systems**
Mechanical lever voting machines were used for the first time in a United States election in Lockport, New York in 1892, and known at the time as the "Myers Automatic Booth". By the 1960s they were used by more than half of the U.S. voting population. In the 1996 US Presidential election they were used by 20.7% of voters.
These voting machines are no longer built and therefore they have been gradually phased out of use. No mechanical voting machines are expected to be operating in the United Sates by the end of 2006.
On a typical mechanical lever voting machines, the name of each candidate or ballot issue choice is assigned a particular lever in a rectangular array of levers on the front of the machine. A set of printed strips visible to the voters identifies the lever assignment for each candidate and issue choice. The levers are horizontal in their unvoted positions.
Upon entering the voting compartment, the voter pulls a handle that activates the machine and closes a privacy curtain. The voter then pulls down selected levers to indicate choices. The machines are designed to prevent the voter from voting for more choices than are permitted. When the voter has finished voting and exits the voting booth by opening the privacy curtain with the handle, the levers are automatically reset to the original horizontal position for the next voter.
Once voting is completed and the levers are reset to zero, it causes a connected counter wheel within the machine to turn one-tenth of a full rotation corresponding to “one” vote. This counter wheel similarly drives a "tens" counter wheel that in turn drives a "hundreds" counter allowing for counting of up to one thousand votes. The counters are supposed to be set to zero prior to being sent to the voting sites, and this is verified by election inspectors and polling officers.
At the close of the voting period, if all mechanical connections were fully operational, the position of each counter indicates the number of votes cast on the lever that drives it and the counters are supposed to remain locked until final results of the election are published or for a period set by the respective electoral code. Polling officers and sometimes an electoral inspector are supposed to take note of the status of the counters and communicate the results to the local electoral authorities in charge of tabulating the votes. In general, party representatives and electoral observers are also allowed to take note of the votes counted by the machines.
