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As many as 27,000 kids may have been wrongfully dropped from a program offering low cost insurance to Florida Families. Computer problems may to blame for axing the Florida Kid Care policyholders. As Whitney Ray tells us, an emergency order is in effect to keep more kids from being dropped.

Some families paid health insurance premiums for their children but got no coverage. Computer glitches wrongfully dropped as many as 27,000 families from the Florida Kid Care program. Child Advocates fear those families won’t get the medical attention they need.

“We can only hope that it hasn’t caused major, major stress to families,” said child advocate Karen Woodall.

In May, the state hired a new administrator to take over the program and changed the Kid Care computer system. With a new chairwoman in place the Florida Healthy Kids Board is trying fix the problem.

“It is unacceptable for any children to be falling out of this program. Our mission is to reach more children. The corporation is going to do whatever it takes to make sure children stay in the program and get the health insurance that they need,” said new Chairwoman Loranne Ausley.

The problem got so bad that the board issued a moratorium to keep more kids from being dropped.

The Florida Healthy Kids Board will send letters to the families who were wrongfully dropped from the program, telling them how to re-enroll.

The way Florida’s legislative districts are divided may have helped Republicans hang onto majorities in the state House and Senate. Thursday the Florida Supreme Court listened to augments over an anti-gerrymandering amendment. Gerrymandering is when lawmakers divide congressional and legislative districts unfairly to give their party an edge. Attorney Barry Richard represents Fair Districts Florida and said gerrymandering has been going on for decades.

“It basically raises the bar. Because the Republicans are in power now and because they’ve drawn the districting, Democrats have a higher burden than Republicans in order to change the face of the legislature. I’m not saying it’s just a Republican problem. The Democrats did the same thing for many, many years,” said Richard.

If the Supreme Court Justices rule in favor of the amendment, the issue would go to voters on the 2010 ballot.

A group of Vietnam veterans traveled to the State Capitol today with the names of the American troops who never made it home. Members of the Vietnam Veterans of America set up a replica of the Washington D.C. Vietnam Memorial. Vietnam Veteran Chuck Royce hopes the country never forgets the troops who gave all.

“We want the public to recognize names and remember people and realize what it takes to have the freedom that we have in our country, that these people paid the ultimate sacrifice. Those of us who are still here honor them and we want people to know what they did and that they are not forgotten,” said Royce.

The wall will be on display at Lake Ella in Tallahassee now through Veteran’s Day.

Floridians voted for more property tax exemptions and an extra ban on gay marriage. While three of the six amendments passed, the fate of an amendment to give tax exemptions to people who build green homes or strengthen them against hurricanes still hangs in the balance. As Whitney Ray tells us, the state may order a recount on amendment three.

Hear it Here: State Considers Recount on Amendment Three

Marina and water front business owners will receive tax breaks, so will people who conserve their land.

“Folks, who want to protect their property and keep it in private ownership, are now going to be able to get some tax relieve by doing that,” said Preston Robinson, an amendment three supporter.

A controversial ban on gay marriage also passed the 60 percent voter threshold. Opponents of the ban say the new law will affect couples gay and straight.

“What we have now is a situation where there is real concern that domestic partnership benefits for our large senior population in Florida in particular are threatened when it comes to their insurance benefits and hospital visitation,” said Damien Filer who opposed the ban.

The future of an amendment offering tax breaks to people who build green homes or strengthen them against hurricanes hangs in the balance.

Amendment three is still too close to call. The state may order a recount on three. Secretary of State Kurt Browning said a ballot misprint could have altered the results.

“There were precincts in Broward County that had amendment three twice on the ballot. They need to determine how many of those were cast and adjust the results accordingly,” said Browning.

Initial estimates show the amendment with 60.4 percent of the votes, which is enough to pass if nothing changes.

Amendments one and eight failed. One sought to eliminate a part of the state’s constitution which says aliens ineligible for citizenship, can’t own property in Florida. The law was written in the early 1900’s and was meant to keep Asians from buying land. Eight would have allowed counties to raise taxes temporarily to help fund community colleges.

Secretary of State Kurt Browning says Florida is writing a new chapter in its infamous Election Day history. Few voting problems were reported today and as Whitney Ray tells us, record early voting turnout lightened the load for poll workers.

With an hour to go until polls closed, a few last minute voters strolled into this Tallahassee precinct.

“I just had a lot of things to get done. We got them done and we got here,” said Tallahassee resident Cindy Garrett.

After Cindy Garrett cast her ballot, poll workers began picking up signs and counting the minutes until closing time.

This voting site was prepared to close on time and then three minutes before seven, a last minute voter rushed through the door. Jenett Hammond says better late than never.

“This is the Presidential Election. It’s the best thing you can do today,” said Jenett.

After the polls closed Secretary of State Kurt Browning gave the election high marks.

“Someone asked me earlier tonight, on a scale of one to ten where I would rate this election. I’d give it a nine,” Browning said.

Despite the good news, at least five counties still had long lines when the polls closed. Browning said more counties would have been added to the long line list if 4.2 million Floridians hadn’t voted early.

Student voting caused some of the biggest problems today. Out of town students at UCF and USF created long lines after they had to change their addresses before voting.

There are very few voting problems to report from Florida’s 7,000 polling sites tonight. Only five counties had people still waiting in line when voting sites closed at seven. A few dozen ballot scanning machines caused some poll workers to lock ballots away until voting ended. Those ballots were tabulated after polls closed. Secretary of State Kurt Browning said election workers spent months preparing for today’s vote.

“A smooth election, I will tell you, is not by accident. We’ve been planning and preparing for this election for the past two years. The Department and local supervisors have worked hard to be ready for this election.”

Supervisors of Elections have until midnight to report election results to the state.

There have been lines and some minor problems in voting across the state today, but no major problems are being reported. They range from a voting machine malfunctioning and refusing ballots to several polls opening late. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the next question becomes counting millions of votes.

As polls opened  from one end of the state to the other, there was a level of energy seldom seen on election day.

Verdell Hill-Peace could hardly contain her excitement

“More so in this one,” Hill-Peace said. “I just wanted to put the right man in.”

Seventy people were in line when this predominately African American precinct opened. The line moved quickly.  By nine, lines across the state were thinning out.

“Come about this time, quarter till nine, maybe nine o’clock and there are never any lines,” voter Ruth Sams said.

Sams was also enthusiastic about casting her ballot.

“I’m so happy to put my vote in,” she said.

After the morning rush, lines were few and far between. When there was one, the wait was averaging 15 minutes. There were also reports of about two dozen scanners across the state jamming.  At a 3:00 p.m. news conference, the Secretary of State was pleased.

“The voting equipment has worked very well today,” Secretary of State Kurt Browning said. “Matter of fact, I believe we’ve had fewer reports of equipment issues for the general election than we had for the primary.”

While turnout was light throughout parts of the day, the official estimate remains that five million people will cast their ballots on election day.

New voting machines in 15 counties coupled with what could be the highest turnout ever has some election watchers concerned. Secretary of State Kurt Browning says Florida is ready for Election Day, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the state has also enlisted police just in case the election goes haywire.

Hear it Here: Florida Prepares to Vote

All eyes are on Florida once again. Tallahassee police have set up a command post across the street from state elections office to make sure no one disrupts state operations.

“We’re not taking anything for granted. It would be one thing not to plan and prepare and then have this building surrounded by people tomorrow and not have any plan to address that,” said Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

A good election doesn’t mean problem free. Florida’s No Match No Vote law may keep 10,000 registered voters from having their voices heard unless they correct mismatched information in a state database. Progress Florida has asked the governor to suspend the law.

“We think the question is, ‘What’s the harm that could be done here to what the potential benefit is?’ And we just feel like the harm really out weights the benefit,” said Damien Filer, spokesman for Progress Florida.

Others have concerns about long lines and new optical scan machines slowing down the process and even causing some people not to cast ballots. Supervisors of Elections said there will be problems.

“Are we going to have some problems? Yes, but in no way should they approach the problem of 2000, and I think we are going to see the highest turnout ever in Florida’s history and we’ve got our figures crossed at this point,” said Ion Sancho, Leon County Supervisor of Elections.

The state has also dispatched technicians across the state to deal with problems as they come up. Voters can do their part to help avoid an Election Day fiasco by knowing where to vote. The Secretary of State is asking anyone who doesn’t know their precinct to call 1-866-308-6739.

Whoever said imitation is the highest form of flattery wasn’t banking on this. Two Progress Florida members latched themselves together and wore President George Bush and Senator John McCain masks. The demonstration is part of the group’s, “Joined at the Hip” campaign. The group says they just want to remind people that McCain voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time. Progress Florida Spokesman Damien Filer said you’ve got to constantly think of new ways to reach the voters.

“This election there is unprecedented attention being paid, unprecedented amounts of money being spent, so the bottom line is how do you break through? So the goal here was how to do something creative and try to get people’s attention one more time hopefully before they head to the polls,” said Filer.

The duo marched in front of the state capitol for about 30 minutes and got several honks and waves and of course a few glares.

Florida’s Secretary of State isn’t taking any chances this Election Day. Tallahassee Police have already set up a command post in front of the Secretary’s office at the R.A. Gray Building. About a dozen officers are staking out the building, watching for demonstrations and illegally parked vehicles. Secretary of State Kurt Browning said the police officers were brought in to keep distractions out.

“We just don’t want any interruption of operations here at the building, because if there are any interruptions that means we aren’t able to do our jobs. Certainly we are trying to keep it as low key as possible but we’ve turned that over to the Tallahassee Police Department,” said Browning.

The Gray building is closed to the public tomorrow.

A lawsuit filed against the state’s Republican Party to ban mass voter challenges was suspended Monday. The Republican Party has promised not to seek mass voter challenges at polling sites on Election Day. If a voter’s eligibility is challenged at the polls, they’ll have to cast a provisional ballot. Secretary of State Kurt Browning says if either party challenges a voter they better have a good reason.

“Any voter stands the possibility of being challenged. The law provides that frivolous challenges shouldn’t be made. As a mater of fact it might be a crime to file a frivolous challenge. Any watcher out there regardless of political party needs to be very, very careful when they, if they state to file challenges against any voters that go to the polls tomorrow,” said Browning.

Both parties will have poll watchers in voting sites on Election Day.

College students could make the difference in who wins Florida tomorrow. A record number of students have registered to vote. Political scientist Lance DeHaven Smith says if they do vote, students could be the deciding factor.

“Every indication is that the students are going to turn out in much larger numbers,” Dehaven Smith said. “Turnout amongst students went up in 2004, but it didn’t go up any more than it had for the electorate as a whole. We had an increase in turnout nationally. This time I think the student turn out is going to be dramatically up and that could be the deciding factor in this election. Florida elections, remember 2000 was decided by 537 votes, you get thousands and thousands of students going to the polls and it could definitely be the difference.”

Dehaven Smith estimates that students are registering Democrat over Republican by a 2-1 margin

The state and local election’s supervisors say they are ready for what could be the most people ever voting in Florida. Early and absentee voting has already set records, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us Tuesday could break all records.

Hear it Here: Turnout Expected to Set Record

More than 4 point 2 million people have already voted early or by absentee. If turnout reaches an expected 85 percent, more than 5.3 million people will vote at on election day. Secretary of State Kurt Browning says supervisors are ready.

“The lines are not necessarily a sign of something bad or something gone wrong,” Browning said. “Lines are the sign of a healthy democracy and people are certainly engaged in this election.

At Obama offices across the state, the goal is push the turnout higher. Louise Rill was on her way to walk neighborhoods.

“[I’m walking neighborhoods] to hang this information on voting day on people’s doorknobs,” Rill said.

High turnout benefits Democrats. And a new study of every election since 1948 by FSU Political Scientist Brad Gomez, suggests Republicians should be praying for Rain.

“The democrats tend to rely on peripheral voters or occasional voters and because of that, their voters seem to be more sensitive to the costs of voting,” Gomez said. “So when it rains, the cost of voting actually goes up, and Democratic voters tend to stay home.”

The real wildcards in this race are young voters. Will they turn out in the same way that they’ve registered?

Florida won’t release any results until after the polls close in the Panhandle. The High turnout is also expected to delay the results into the evening.

By all accounts the weather in Florida should be good on Tuesday which suggests turnout should be high. Anyone in line by 7pm tomorrow night will be given a chance to cast a ballot.