Just what is a "Votamatic" device, anyone know?

I can't quite picture what the device in question is. It's used to punch the ballots prior to their being cast? Why is a special machine needed for this?

: She noted that this incident did occur during the hand count
: of the
: presidential election and Lefore stated she did not wish to
: pursue further
: this matter at this time due to extenuating
: circumstances," it said.

"Extenuating circumstances"? She is allowed to simply drop the matter, without a real explanation, and not pursue it? That in itself seems odd. This ought to be a big story, but the media will bury it as usual.

BTW, another story that apparently contains a reference to these "machines" can be found at http://www.sightings.com/general5/trouble.htm. It mentions that the holes in the ballot cards did not "line up properly" in the machine.

I think most people have seen pictures of these so-called "butterfly" balots by now. The layout seems simple enough, The infamous second hole from the top, the one for Buchanan, should line up with the line between the Bush and Gore boxes, so that if that line were extended to the right it would pass through the center of the Buchanan hole, along its diameter. But photos of the actual ballots (I can't find the URL right now) show that this line in fact would pass above the center of the Buchanan hole, putting more of that hole alongside the Gore box than alongside the Bush box. This may have led to both the "confusion" we hear so much about, and to the failure of the cards to properly align with the punch machines.

I'd still like to see a picture of one of these machines and to understand just what it is supposed to do, and why it is needed. I had thought the holes were punched out using a small hand-held stylus. I can't imagine why anything more than that would be needed.