Tickets & Ballots

In 1896, residents of Rochester, New York, became the first U. S. citizens to cast their votes using a mechanical lever machine that registered individual votes, as well as the number of voters, on a series of levers that controlled counters. Over the next thirty years, voting machines became standard, and by the time of the 1932 Presidential election, very few Americans cast paper ballots. This demonstration model, used in 1900, helped introduce voters to the new machine.

Continue the tour