BOISE -- Election officials in Canyon County says glitches with three optical scanning devices caused big delays in getting out returns from Tuesday night's election.

With more and more Americans casting paper ballots that are tabulated by the optical scanning devices, just how well are they working?

After using the optical scanner for three years, Ada County election officials give the machine the following grades.

"For the voter, I give it an A," said Ada County Chief Deputy Clerk Chris Rich. "From an administrative standpoint, I'll give it a B."

Rich says he gives optical scanners a high mark for voters because filling in an oval next to a candidate's name is simple and effective. Punch cards could leave those puzzling hanging chads.

Voters we talked to agreed.

"I liked it, it was quick," said Kathleen Sanders after voting at Adams Elementary School in Boise. "Bing! Bing! And we're done. Then you're not worried you punched it in the wrong place. This was easy."

But Rich gives the lower administrative grade because he says optical scanners count ballots more slowly than the old punch card process -- at times, as seen in Canyon County -- agonizingly so.

Twelve hundred punch cards can be tabulated per minute, he says, compared to some 200 optical ballots. And if there's a problem with the optical ballot, say a wrinkle, or even humidity, the scan rate can drop to a plodding 50 per minute.

The main problem is getting our results. "People expect, and I think rightfully so, to get results on a timely basis," Rich said.

And to extract the results, each optical tabulator, operating independently, must be completely shut down for as long as 20 minutes.

"We get hit with the decision, do we stop the machine and release results, or keep going and get everything processed as quickly as possible?" Rich said.

But Rich says optical scanning is becoming the dominant form of voting around the country. It leaves an easily verifiable paper trail and even states using electronic balloting see a need to back it up with paper.

As election officials work out the nuances of optical scanners, it's clear the machines also require something else from voters -- patience, a virtue much relied upon in a democracy.