luzernecountyvotes' photostream

The iconic system of voting in Luzerne County is seen here in ruin after having been dumped to the ground. The sad fate of the machines becomes reality in this photo.

More and more machines are piled as the fleet of removal trucks delivered them to the scrap heap for their destruction.

Here the scrap hauler dumps machines at staging area 3 at the scrap site. Each 800 pound machine took serious damage as they smashed against one another or slammed into the ground.

In this photo, we can see a small part of the intricate system of slides that needed to be "programmed" manually for each candidate and contest for every election on every machine. These slides actuated by the levers and curtain handle would record votes in a complex mechanical process that ended with the advancing of the numbered registers inside the back of the machine.

The Automatic Voting Machine was a modern marvel when first introduced to the nation as a popular alternative to hand-count paper ballots or HCPB's. Nearly 75% of the county used lever machines before the first electronic systems.