I voted in WNY a little while ago. Our polling station started using the optical scanners a couple of years ago, the ones where you fill in the ovals to vote, then run the sheet through the scanner. On my way in, I asked the volunteers how I could check to see if my votes were counted correctly (all the machine does is tell you that your votes are counted - no verification of the candidates that received your votes). They had no idea, and from their dumbfounded looks, had probably never been asked this question before. Finally, one of them stated that the votes are placed on a tape, and the tape is then run through a computer to divvy up the votes as they appear on the tape. Not exactly encouraging, IMO.