[cderwin]

This is how we do it in New Hampshire. It works fine here too.

Perhaps the problem is scale? New Hampshire is one of the smaller states, and the UK is obviously quite a bit less populous than the US.

Or perhas it's just a need for instant gratification. There's a reason New Hampshire was one of the last states to be called this year.

[paulddraper]

(1) Resources ought to scale with size.

(2) I would imagine that you'd go with the database on election night, but in days following, verify the paper votes as convenient.

[ascorbic]

Shouldn't really make a difference. Just add more counters. Counting votes is perfectly parallelizable.

[tonyedgecombe]

I'm sure you used to count votes manually before computers existed.