Good voting machines are fair and flexible. They are accessible to the physically disabled, functionally illiterate and voters whose first language is not English. They can be adapted to process ballots for increasingly popular election methods other than winner-take-all.

Good voting machines are reliable, and their output is verifiable. They do not malfunction during polling hours. They record results that can be tabulated manually in the event of technical failure.

The following is FairVote's 2005 Voting Machine Vendor Survey. Findings come from survey responses by companies and first-hand observation of a vendors' fair. For background information, see our Voting Equipment Guidelines hub page.

Findings are incomplete where vendors have declined to respond and information was not otherwise available. The public needs this information immediately, as the deadline to secure contracts under the Help America Vote Act rapidly approaches. Vendors are welcome to submit missing or incorrect information. If you are a vendor and have not been included, please contact us. FairVote will gladly update this profile.

The following table is a general overview of equipment capabilities. For more details (i.e. on specifics of recording equipment, audit capacity, forthcoming upgrades), contact FairVote.

Other vendors:
• Election Data Corporation - manufactures booths and other parts, not voting devices
• Election Data Direct - does not manufacture voting devices
• Election Works - does not manufacture voting devices
• Fidlar Doubleday - broker for Diebold Election Systems
• Triad Governmental Systems, Inc. - does not manufacture voting devices
• VoteHere, Inc. - builds election validation and voter verification systems, not voting devices

[2002 Voting Equipment Vendor Survey, resources on HAVA and voting equipment]
[IRV: ranked choice method for single-winner elections]
[Choice voting: ranked choice method for multimember elections]
[Cumulative voting]