How the Votes Will Be Cast

The number of people using electronic voting machines will swell to almost 66 million this election, according to a study by Election Data Services, a political consulting firm. The growth was fueled by a federal law, passed in 2002, mandating that all punch-card and lever machine systems be scrapped before the 2006 elections. Despite the deadline, 13 counties in Idaho will still use punch cards this year, and all of New York and most jurisdictions in Connecticut will still use lever machines, according to EDS.