FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- To streamline Kentucky's electoral process and ensure fair elections, state lawmakers should approve and fund early voting programs and equipment that would create paper trails, Secretary of State Trey Grayson said Tuesday.

Kentucky's general election this month did not have any major problems, Grayson told a legislative elections panel. Voters, however, would have more confidence in the integrity of Kentucky elections and perhaps more would show up at the polls, Grayson said.

"We haven't had the problems here yet, at least we don't feel it," Grayson said. "Let's not wait for the problem and let's do it while people still trust the system."

Across the state, there were more than 4,000 races this year, including 247 judicial races, six congressional bouts and 52 legislative contests. Following the election, some lawmakers complained of delays at the ballot box and in tabulating the results.

House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, has said that new eSlate voting machines in place across the state may stifle voter turnout by causing lengthy lines.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, is among the legislative leaders who have said they would support implementing an electronic paper trail.

At the federal level, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., has proposed a bill in Congress that would require voter-verified paper records for all voting systems that could be used in manual audits.

While there were delays at some polling locations, they were likely caused by the unusually high number of races under consideration coupled with the fact that many voters were using new machines they weren't used to, Grayson said.

Roger Baird, president of Harp Elections Services, said there were 3,300 of the new eSlate machines in place in Kentucky. While there may have been delays, education and practice will likely expedite the process, Baird said.

"Things are going to improve," Baird said.

State election officials are currently working on an approximately $15 million plan to provide $4,500 per precinct for each of Kentucky's 120 counties to spend on new election equipment or voter-verified paper trails, Grayson said. It would cost about $1,000 to add a feature to electronic voting machines that would print out voters' ballot box decisions, Grayson said.

An elections committee is expected to vote on the plan next week, he said.

"We need to have the voters trust that when they go in to vote that the person for whom they voted, their vote will be recorded that way," Grayson said. "And that they accept the outcome."

Currently, more than 20 states have mandated a voter-verified paper trail, Grayson said. Meanwhile, more than 20 states also allow voters to cast their ballots early, a Grayson spokesman said.

Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins, however, said he opposed both ideas.

Allowing more people to vote before Election Day would overwhelm clerk's offices, Blevins said. And because of potential problems with printers, adding voter-verified printouts would not likely reduce delays at the polls, Blevins said.

"All you get at the end of it anyway is a warm fuzzy," Blevins said. "It doesn't do anything for the process."