Our archaic vote counting

The US election is over. More than 100 million votes were cast and, in a couple of hours, the result was known. What a contrast with our election. I am aware that our proportional representation system does not make for quick and easy counting, however, I still think that whoever is in charge must find ways and means to speed up the counting process.

I think that one way would be to count ballots at the polling stations at the end of the voting period. Apart from speeding up the process it also reduces risks.

What happens if, say, there is a power outage in the main counting hall or if some other accident were to take place?

We live in the year 2012 and we cannot go on with our archaic system of counting votes.