Elections in some 27 villages across the Hudson Valley are expected to determine the fates of potential judges, trustees and mayors, but for some, today's victory comes in the form of paper ballots and pull-down lever voting machines.

Many districts have returned to older voting methods, including machines with pull-down levers and privacy curtains, and even paper ballots.

Election officials in some villages, such as Airmont, chose not to use optical-scanner voting machines, opting instead to use paper ballots. Some have said that the reasons as to why some villages switched include a lack of training on the newer machines, but also the absence of older, hand-operated machines in districts where older machines were sold.

Today's polls will close to voters at 9 p.m.