We had problems with the lever machines and we were happy to get rid of them.
What we got, though, by being the last and learning from other mistakes, were ballot scanners. You, the voter, sign in and get a sturdy paper ballot. You fill in the little circles with the supplied felt tip pen and run it through the scanner. You get three tries in case you filled in too many circles, or otherwise make a mess of it.
We know of no bad news in this system, aside from the rare hardware failures, for which we have a backup.
The good news is that...
The machines and the little booths they use to mark the ballots are much less volume and weight than the old ones-- saving a small fortune in storage and transportation costs
The lever machines were ancient and since replacement parts aren't being made, we had a huge warehouse full of spares-- which we used. A lot.
The lever machines were not always accurate, although if off usually only by the last digit. They were also difficult to read by the four people charged with reading them, and it could take a good half hour or more per machine to agree on the totals. Recounts and spot checks back at the base were also time consuming and not necessarily accurate.
The software is not some bloated and mysterious Windows based BS, but a simple dedicated counting program-- like millions of cash registers use.
The paper ballots are secured safely for spot checks and recounts. Voting totals are on a paper cash register tape and on a chip. The tapes and chips are handled with standard security protocols.
Voting lines are shorter, since they spend their time marking paper ballots, not in the booth finding levers. Actual voting time at the machine is around 15 seconds. Sometimes less.
Total setup and shutdown times are a bit longer for the new machines, but not that long and just one person can shut it down with three others doing other things and then merely certifying the tape. We get out a little faster after a 16 hour day.
Every election, someone gripes about liking the old machines. We have a lot of curmudgeons around here.
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