"The oldest technology is the paper ballot. To cast a vote, a person makes a mark next to the name of the preferred candidates or referendum options and, then, puts the ballot in a box. Paper ballots are counted manually."
March 2001 Stephen Ansolabehere

Congressional Research Service's 2003 Report for Congress entitled Election Reform and Electronic Voting Sytems (DREs): Analysis of Security Issues, includes the following description of mechanical lever machines:

"With [mechanical lever machines], a voter enters the voting booth and sees a posted ballot with a small lever near the name of each candidate or other ballot choice. The voter chooses a candidate by moving the appropriate lever...After completing all choices, the voter pulls a large lever to cast the ballot, and the votes are recorded by advances in mechanical counters in the machine. The lever machine therefore eliminates the need to count ballots manually. Instead, pollworkers read the numbers recorded by the counters. Because there is no document ballot, recounts and audits are limited to review of totals recorded by each machine."
2003 Congressional Research Service

"The lever machine consists of a steel booth that the voter steps into. A card in the booth lists the names of the candidates, parties, or referenda options, and below each option is a switch. Voters flick the switch of their preferred options for each office or referendum. When they wish to make no further changes, they pull a large lever, which registers their votes on a counter located on the back of the machine. At the end of the voting day, the election precinct workers record the tallies from each of the machines. Lever machines automate both the casting of votes and the counting of votes through mechanical devices."
March 2001 Stephen Ansolabehere

Congressional Research Service's 2003 Report for Congress entitled Election Reform and Electronic Voting Sytems (DREs): Analysis of Security Issues, includes the following description of mechanical lever machines:

"Another major technological advance in voting--the first use of computers to count votes--came with the introduction of the punchcard system. In [punchcard] voting systems, document ballots are fed into an electronic reader and the tallies stored in computer memory and media. Tallying can be done at either the precinct or a central location. Computer-assisted counting of document ballots can be done very rapidly, thus speeding the reporting of election results. It is much more efficient for counting large numbers of ballots than manual tallying."
2003 Congressional Research Service

"Punch card machines automated the counting process using the computer technology of the 1960s. Upon entering the polling place the voter is given a paper ballot in the form of a long piece of heavy stock paper. The paper has columns of small, perforated rectangles (or chads). There are two variants of the punch card - one, the Data Vote, lists the names of the candidates on the card; the other (VotoMatic) does not...The voter uses a metal punch to punch out the rectangle beside the candidate of choice...When finished, the voter removes the card and puts it in a ballot box. At the end of the day, the election workers put the cards into a sorter that counts the number of perforations next to each candidate."
March 2001 Stephen Ansolabehere

Congressional Research Service's 2003 Report for Congress entitled Election Reform and Electronic Voting Sytems (DREs): Analysis of Security Issues, includes the following description of mechanical lever machines:

"The optical-scan voting system also uses computers for vote-counting. In [optical scan] voting systems, document ballots are fed into an electronic reader and the tallies stored in computer memory and media. Tallying can be done at either the precinct or a central location. Computer-assisted counting of document ballots can be done very rapidly, thus speeding the reporting of election results. It is much more efficient for counting large numbers of ballots than manual tallying."
2003 Congressional Research Service

"Optically scanned ballots, also known as 'marksense' or 'bubble' ballots, offer another method for automating the counting of paper ballots. The form of the optically scanned ballot is familiar to anyone who has taken a standardized test. The voter is given a paper ballot that lists the names of the candidates and the options for referenda, and next to each choice is a small circle or an arrow with a gap between the fletching and the point. The voter darkens in the bubble next to the preferred option for each office or referendum, or draws a straight line connecting the two parts of the arrow. The ballot is placed in a box, and, at the end of the day, counted using an optical scanner. Some versions of this technology allow the voter to scan the ballot at the polling place to make sure that he or she voted as intended."
March 2001 Stephen Ansolabehere