The 3,478 missing ballots in Palm Beach county has state elections officials worried about November.

The Secretary of State is considering his options.

"We’re not quite sure what direction we’re going to go yet with that. Whether we’re going to send a team in, whether we’re going to send an individual in, how long term," says Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

The election snafu caused the state canvassing board to certify every August 26th election result, but one between two judicial candidates.

The next stop, ironically, a courtroom. Since 2000, Palm Beach has gone from punch cards to touch screens and now, for the first
countywide election, optical scans.

Governor Charlie Crist was asked about voter confidence.
Reporter: Do you think this will diminish voter confidence in the voting equipment?
Gov. Crist: “I hope not, I hope not. It shouldn’t.”

The drama will play out in Tallahassee because all election cases must be fought here.

At least one of the best election lawyers in the state has already been hired. The state is confident the votes are not lost, but just misplaced and will eventually turn up.

But that won’t be enough to settle the judicial race or to quell fears that Florida could once again be a poster child for inept voting.

“We don't do a very good job of it by having these types of issues with our elections," Browning says.

And the last thing elections officials want is for the state to once again be the legal battleground for the Presidency.