There exist various methods through which the ballots cast at an election may be counted, prior to applying a voting system to obtain one or more winners.
Manual counting: In some jurisdictions, the ballots are counted manually, either by state employees, either by volunteers acting as scrutineers.
Positive points: When the possible choices on the ballot are simple (a yes/no answer to a referendum, a simple choice in a variety of candidates or lists), the counting is simple and fast. There is no need to move the ballots between the polling station and a counting station; votes may be counted on the spot, thus reducing the risk of losses and tampering. It is sufficient to have a limited number of volunteers per voting precinct, and the system scales up well to any size of consistuency or country. The process may be understood and witnessed by any voter.
Negative points: This method is less efficient when the choices on the ballot are complex (possibility of removing names from a list etc...). It scales up badly when several questions are asked on the same ballot.
Electromechanical counting: Ballots, typically punch cards, are collected and fed into a voting machine which counts them.
Positive points: The system scales well with any number of simultaneous votes.
Negative points: Those machines are costly and difficult to maintain; as a consequence, there may be fewer machines than polling stations, requiring the movement of ballots from polling stations to counting offices. This may result in losses, or may allow tampering. The number of polling stations may have to be reduced, thus making it difficult for voters to reach them because of transportation constraints. The vote counts are unreliable and such machines were responsible for the fiasco of the election of the Floridan electors in the U.S. presidential election of 2000.
Electronic counting: Voters input their vote directly into a voting machine.
Positive points: The system scales well with any number of simultaneous votes.
Negative points: Those machines are costly; cost considerations may result in a limited number of machines being installed, leading to polling stations away from voters and waiting lines. The machines generally operate as "black boxes", their internal workings only understood by their designers; this would warrant strict technical oversight from impartial authorities, which is not always available or practiced.
