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The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee was told today that Five Florida counties, St. Lucie, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami Dade, and Lee, under performed in the November General election. Only St. Lucie failed to turn in its vote totals on time. State Senators began what will be a months long look at what went wrong November sixth.

Voters were still in line Wednesday morning in Miami Dade. Some votes in St. Lucie country were late being counted and submitted and did not count. Long lines and other problems plagued voters in Palm Beach, Broward and Lee counties.

“Sixty-two of the sixty-seven counties performed very well”. is what Secretary of State Ken Detzner told State Senators investigating the problems. He said voters are like customers and need to receive good service.

“If you are in the burger business and you don’t have enough cash registers or burger makers, and you don’t appropriate the money for that type of service” says Detzner.

The committee was told more early voting hours would have solved some of the problems. And the number of early voting sites varied widely from as low as one site per thirty thousand residents to a high of one site per 210 thousand people.

“There may not have been enough sites. Where they were located may not have been strategically the best locations, but we’re going to find out” Detzner told reporters afterward.

A long ballot and record absentee ballots also contributed to delays, which prompted Committee Chair Senator Jack Latvala to promise “There will be some legislation that will be out of this committee by the first part of session”. Fast food comparisons dominated the meeting and the point was made When the line gets too long, the franchisee needs to open another restaurant nearby or lose business.

It will be months before changes are proposed, but more early voting sites, more equipment, and better funding for elections are all items for consideration.

The committee chairman also suggested the Governor might want to consider removing some Elections Supervisors who did not perform on election day. Next week the Secretary of State will take a team of experts to each of the counties that had problems and report to the Governor in January.