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When one of the old lever machines breaks down, Gilmore is the man who has to make it work by Election Day.

"I couldn't tear one completely apart and put it back together again, but basic maintenance I know," said Gilmore, 50, of Youngwood.

Tuesday just might be the last election that Gilmore has to have his more than 730 machines, of 1950s vintage, ready to accept votes. Under the federal government's Help America Vote Act, all lever-based machines must be replaced by the 2006 spring primary.

The federal mandate came out of the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election and the voting flap in Florida over paper ballots and hanging chads. In response, the federal government ordered all older voting systems, including lever-based machines, to be replaced.

Westmoreland County leaders are in the process of selecting and then buying new computer-based machines to replace the reliable -- but heavy and clunky -- machines used for the last half-century.

And that'll be OK with Gilmore.

"I'm going to miss the voting machines, but with their age and the year we're at now, it's time for a new voting machine. Our lever machines can't be beat, but they're cumbersome, heavy and expensive to keep going," Gilmore said.

The county will use only 603 machines on Tuesday. The remaining units will be kept on standby as replacements. About 20 others sit in a pile in the back of a county warehouse, cannibalized for parts.

That's because lever-based machines are no longer in production and the county can't get parts for them anymore, Gilmore said.

Westmoreland County is one of 21 counties in Pennsylvania, along with Allegheny and Fayette, that use old-fashioned, lever machines.

The machines record votes when levers next to a candidate's name are pulled. Votes are tabulated by a mechanical counter on the back of each machine that is advanced every time a lever is pulled.

Judges of elections open the locked machine when the polls are closed and read the counter numbers for the official tally of votes.

"Westmoreland County has no complaint about the system," said Elections Bureau Director Paula T. Pedicone.

The lever machines cost about $4,000 a year in repairs and another $62,000 annually to transport them to more than 300 precincts throughout the county. Pedicone said it takes about 10 days to ship out all of the machines to each precinct.

Newer, computer-based machines would be smaller, cheaper to operate and would electronically keep track of vote totals.

Pedicone said a final vendor is expected to be selected by county commissioners by the end of the month, and the purchase process could begin sometime in December.

Westmoreland County expects to pay about $2.2 million to purchase the new voting system. The project would be paid for by state grants.

Fayette County is slated to receive $1.1 million in state grants to replace its 211 lever voting machines. County officials insist it will cost twice that amount to purchase a new voting system, educate poll workers and update some of the 105 precincts.

"I have no problem with these machines," Fayette County Elections Bureau Director Laurie Nicholson said of the old lever voting booths. "The only time I have to go for repairs is if they're dropped."

For Gilmore, the new machines mean he'll have to learn a whole set of new skills in order to do his job. And although it's a prospect that Gilmore said he's excited about, he still feels a twinge of sadness about the end of an era.

"It's 30 years of my life, and now I'm going to be starting over," Gilmore said.

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