The kinds of voting machines Americans will be able to use this year

By The Associated Press

This fall, some voters will find new voting machines at their polling places, while others will be using the same voting equipment they used in election 2000. This is how the nation's voting equipment breaks down, by numbers of registered voters and the percentage of registered voters:

Optical scan (penciled-in ovals, similar to standardized tests): 55.6 million registered voters; 32.2 percent.

Electronic touchscreens (ATM-style): 50 million registered voters; 28.9 percent.

Punch cards (notorious for chads): 32.2 million registered voters: 18.6 percent.

Levers: 22.2 million registered voters: 12.8 percent.

Paper Ballots: 1 million registered voters: 0.6 percent.

Mixed (when communities in a single county use different equipment): 11.7 million registered voters; 6.8 percent.

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