Section of the online exhibit Vote: The Machinery of Democracy focused on gear and lever voting, which was meant to ensure the confidentiality and efficiency of the election process. Shows the ...

After the hanging-chad debacle in Florida four years ago, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, which meant $4 billion for states that replaced punch-cards and lever machines with more reliable ...

Mechanical devices started to replace hand-marked paper ballots in the late 1800s, and the use of the pointer/punch card system to record votes dates to 1892. Some form of this method remains in use ...