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With just 13 days to go until the election the debate over a constitutional ban on gay marriage is raging in Florida. Millions of dollars have been poured into the fight and as Whitney Ray tells us, opponents of the ban are calling their rivals on the carpet over how they raised their campaign contributions.

Hear it Here: Gay Marriage Debate Rages

Gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts, so supporters of a Florida ban on same sex marriages brought Massachusetts parents Rob and Robin Wirthlin here to tell their story.

“He came home from school one day and he told us about a book his teacher had read. It was about a prince who didn’t marry a princess, he married another prince. We were so surprised,’ said Robin.

Supporters of Amendment 2 raised more than a million dollars to push a constitutional ban on same sex marriages.

Opponents of the amendment have filed a complaint with the state saying Yes2Marriage broke election laws while collecting campaign contributions.

The group raised money through a third party charity in order to hide their donors’ identities. Yes2Marriage Chairman John Stemberger said so what.

“We’ve done everything legal. If our opponents don’t like it, then they’ll have to change the law,” said Stemberger.

While the state was busy investigating the complaint, Stemberger and Progress Florida Policy Director Damien Filer debated the issue on a popular web show. Filer says if Amendment 2 passes, couples who live together, gay or straight will suffer.

“What this is about is a threat to benefits, to health care benefits in Florida,” said Filer.

“This has nothing to do with benefits,” said Stemberger.

Whether or not benefits for domestic partners would be affected is still unclear, but no matter what side wins, one thing is certain, gay marriage will remain illegal in Florida, since the state already passed a legislative ban. Opponents of the ban are asking television stations to pull the Yes2Marriage ads until the state finishes its investigation into the group’s campaign financing.

Students at two state colleges are carpooling, not to save money, but to make sure their classmates cast ballots. Florida State and Florida A&M students are driving van loads of voters to polling sites in Tallahassee. For FSU Freshman Sarah Simpson the van ride is helping her vote for the first time ever.

“Right now I’m just really excited I get to vote. This is a really important election so knowing that I can vote and possibly make a difference is kind of exciting, kind of exhilarating,” said Sarah.

On the first day of early voting more than a thousand FAMU students marched to the polls to cast ballots.

The state may change its tune about letting federal poll watchers into voting sites on Election Day. Secretary of State Kurt Browning originally denied watchers access, but as Whitney Ray tells us, now the governor is voicing his support for the idea.

Long lines and limited parking are a nuisance to anyone trying to vote… but for the blind, the deaf, and Floridians in wheelchairs these problems could keep them from casting a ballot. Advocacy groups are asking Floridians with disabilities to vote before Election Day to avoid any problems.

“We feel that with early voting if there is a problem of any kind then there is an opportunity to correct it,” said Advocacy Center Spokeswoman Carolee Howe.

Federal Poll Watchers want to document any problems disabled Floridians have casting ballots on Election Day. They asked the state for permission to conduct a study. Their request was denied.

“They were told no because Florida law does not permit them in the polling place,” said Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

The state cooperated with a study the study in 2000 and allowed federal watchers into polling sites in four counties. US Senator Bill Nelson has written Governor Charlie Crist asking him to let the poll watchers in. The governor agrees.

“I think that Senator Nelson’s request is reasonable,” said Crist.

Crist’s word should be final, which means voting sites in Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties will soon be under scrutiny for how disabled voters are treated. Secretary Browning says he has a group of state attorney’s looking at the issue and he’ll base his decision on what they decide.

Once a child is reported missing the chance of finding him alive decreases with every hour he is gone. The Department of Children and Families, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children met in Tallahassee today to share information on how to speed up the search. The training taught officers how share information and equipment. Criminal Justice Coordinator Deborah Johnson said with state agencies working together recover time will improve.

“The sooner that we can respond to any child that goes missing, the sooner that child is reported missing to law enforcement , the sooner we sooner we have of recovering a child in a safe manner,” said Johnson.

Officers were shown how to access different databases to search for information on possible kidnappers.

Record turnout on the first day of early voting went down mostly without a hitch, mostly. In Leon County two vote counting machines were replaced after poll workers discovered the machines weren’t reading some ballots. The ballots were locked away and tabulated on new machines after the polls closed. Secretary of State Kurt Browning says the problems were minor and handled by county supervisors.

“There’s no machine and no voting systems issues, If anything it was the check in equipment that they were using were having some communications issues, online issues. We got no reporters yesterday of voting systems issues, which was a good thing,” said Browning.

Secretary Browning says Florida is ready for a possible record turn out on November 4th.

Alan Crotzer, the man who spent 25 years in state prison for a rape he did not commit asked the Governor for a fresh start today and got it.  Crotzer and his attorneys appeared before the Executive Clemency Board asking for a complete pardon for two earlier crimes; a 1979 robbery, and a 1991 controlled substances violation when he was in prison. Telling the panel that he is “Not the monster they make me out to be”, the former inmate says he was 18 and outside a convenience store when his friends went inside to steal cases of beer. In prison, he says a guard forced him to sell marijuana.

Crotzer is now working part time and volunteering for the Department of Juvenile Justice, hoping to dissuade other kids from making their first mistake and paying huge consequences like he has paid. He also told the Governor and Cabinet he would like to be a Prison Inspector after getting a college education so he can expose the problems he found while incarcerated.

Governor Charlie Crist made the motion to grant not only a full pardon but a compete expungement of the criminal records. The motion started a discussion of whether the panel could order an expungement under a 2004 Supreme Court decision to the contrary, to which the Governor asked rhetorically….”aren’t there two new judges over there now…and two more to come?”

Someone would have to file suit to challenge the vote to grant the expungement. Crotzer says he feels “like he is finally off to a fresh start in life”.

Open enrollment for Florida’s Prepaid College plan began today. The plan allows parents to lock prices of tuition at the current rate, but as Whitney Ray tells us, people invested in the plan are worried about the fund’s stability.

Hear it Here: Florida Prepaid College Board Calms Worried Investors

Jenn Meale was thinking about her daughter’s college education long before she gave birth.

“We tried to sign her up before she was even born and they told us we had to at least have a social security card. So once we got that social security card we signed her up right away,” said Jenn.

Jenn invests about a hundred dollars a month in the Florida’s Prepaid College Plan. The plan allows parents to lock in the price of tuition.

Parents who bought into the plan 18 years ago will save 8,000 dollars by the time their kids graduate.

In June, the fund was worth 700 million dollars, then, last month, the stock market took a huge plunge. State investors say the recent woes on Wall Street haven’t had much of an impact on the fund.

“Our investment strategy is very conservative; we only invest in fixed income securities, so again no significant losses. We’re safe,” said Kimberly Sirmons, a spokeswoman for the fund.

Plus money paid into the plan is guaranteed by the state. Jenn said the state’s promise has helped her rest easier.

“We are concerned about the economic down turn, but we’re not hanging on every Dow Jones report, stocks going up and down. We feel like it’s a good investment. We’ll ride it out and see how she does when she turns 18,” said Jenn.

Jenn hopes the fund will allow her daughter to choose a college based on what it can offer academically not on affordability. Open enrollment lasts through January. To sign up go to www.myfloridaprepaid.com or call 1-800-522-GRAD.

Supporters of a controversial plan to limit development say they’ve got enough support to get their amendment on the 2010 ballot. The Florida Hometown Democracy amendment would give voters the power to approve or deny city and county land-use changes. Supporters of the amendment say they have more than 611,000 signatures needed to place Hometown Democracy on the 2010 ballot. Spokesman for the plan John Hedrick said the amendment would give more power to the people.

“Citizen in that city or in that county depending on who proposed the amendment is going to be able to vote on it in an election and see if they agree with what the government’s done. This will definitely give the people the final say so on the decisions in the community,” said Hedrick.

Opponents of the plan say the group doesn’t have enough signatures for the 2010 ballot. The number of required signatures is based on the number of people who voted in the last presidential election and is expected to increase significantly after November 4th.

The battle over writing a gay marriage ban into Florida’s constitution is heating up. Supporters and opponents of Amendment 2 are spending millions on television ads. As Whitney Ray tells us, people against the amendment say if 2 passes it would take away benefits from gay and straight couples.

Hear it Here: Amendement 2 Television Blitz Rages

The TV blitz in on. Supporters and opponents of a ban on gay marriage are reaching out to Floridians through their television sets. Yes2Marriage Chairman John Stemberger said how Floridians vote in November will have huge impact on our children.

“The issue is how marriage is going to be viewed in the next generation and how is that generation is going to view marriage as a cultural institution and a human institution,” said Stemberger.

Groups against the amendment, including retirees, firefighters and educators say if amendment 2 passes, it will have dire consequences for couples who live together, gay or straight.

“Those domestic partnerships come with benefits like hospital visitations and the right to share pension or health insurance and this amendment cause of the way its drafted could actually take those benefits away,” Derek Newton, Campaign Director of SayNo2.

The vote could be more symbolic than substantive. Florida already has a ban on gay marriage, but if amendment two passes the ban would be written in to the state constitution.

Concerns over how a constitutional ban on gay marriage would impact seniors killed a similar proposal in Arizona.

A 10 year-old Tampa boy is lacing up his sneakers, once again, to help homeless kids. This year Zach Bonner is walking from Tallahassee to Atlanta to raise money for kids with no place to call home. Last year Zach walked from Tampa to the state Capitol and raised 25,000 dollars for homeless children. An estimated 34,000 children in Florida are homeless. Zach said he got the idea after visiting homeless shelters.

“They are kids, who are just like me, but they don’t have the same opportunities and they don’t have a home to stay in or a bed to sleep in, so I think it’s really important,” said Zach.

Zach expects the walk to take him 30 days. He hopes to raise 30,000 dollars.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink says Barack Obama’s health care and tax plan would help small businesses in Florida. Sink toured small businesses in Tampa and Tallahassee Friday. Sink said Obama’s tax plan would give small businesses 3,000 dollars for each new job they create and provide incentives to offer health insurance.

“Barack Obama has the kind of health insurance plan that will provide incentives and support and tax credits for small businesses to provide health insurance in a group environment,” said Sink.

CFO Sink is the highest ranking Democrat in Florida Government and the only Democrat on the state cabinet.

In some Florida counties as many as four out of every ten voters are expected to cast ballots before Election Day. More than 220,000 people have already voted absentee. As Whitney Ray tells us, the pool of people who can be reached is dwindling daily and the window of opportunity to reach voters is closing quickly.

Supervisors of Elections across the state are testing voting machines in preparation for early voting. Even as these tests are being conducted, thousands of absentee ballots are waiting to be tabulated.

As the clock ticks down to Election Day, the number of Floridians who can be reached is also shrinking. The Obama camp says it’s prepared for a dwindling voter pool.

“Early voting changes it because you have to have a leader who has been consistent and had consistent messages throughout the campaign. So what Barack Obama has been talking about, he’s been talking about for two years now,” said North Florida Obama Campaign Communications Director Kevin Cate.

More than 220,000 Florida Republicans have already cast absentee ballots, but the state party is planning a last minute blitz.

“We have a very strong 72 hour program, which is basically the last couple of days of the election, just getting people out,” said RPOF Spokeswoman Erin Van Sickle.

Judging by the recent flood of new voter registration forms at the Division of Election early voting may be a huge time saver

“Anything you can do to alleviate the crowds on Election Day will help the voter and the Supervisor,” Jennifer Davis, Spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office, said.

With such a push to get to the polls early, a late October surprise or even a November scandal may not be a kingmaker. Early voting begins Monday. Absentee ballots can be cast through October 29th.

Optical scan and touch-screen voting machines are being tested this week as supervisors of elections statewide gear up for early voting. State law requires one out of every 10 machines to be tested at random before early voting begins. Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho said his testing machines is a key to making sure things go smoothly at the polls.

“This is again the kind of reserve and protection that we put behind the process to make sure that no problem can emerge on Election Day that would cause any voters votes from not being cast or counted,” said Sancho.

Early voting begins Monday.

Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama says if he’s elected president he’ll end the Apalachicola Water War among Alabama, Georgia and Florida. For nearly 20 years the three states have been battling over the waterways flowing into the Apalachicola Bay. US Lawmakers have asked Governor Charlie Crist set goals for a proposed million dollar study on how to fairly manage the rivers that feed the bay. Florida Obama Campaign Spokesman Ian Bassin said if his candidate wins the election he’ll push all sides to reach an agreement.

“Once we have that study, which Barack Obama will push for as president, he will then call on the governors of Georgia, Alabama and Florida, to come together again as stakeholders to use the recommendation in that study to come up with an equitable water sharing solution for the future,” said Bassin.

Ten percent of the country’s oysters come from the Apalachicola Bay. A decrease in water flow to the bay is threatening the state’s oyster industry.

From 2006 to 2007, the number of justifiable homicides in Florida tripled from 33 to 102. That number is expected to increase again at the same rate this year. The increase is being attributed to a 2005 state law change that allows homeowners to protect their property. Before the law changed victims of home invasions were only justified in shooting an intruder if they didn’t have an escape route. NRA spokeswoman Marion Hammer said the law needed to be changed.

“There was this duty to retreat that had been imposed through what I would call a form of evolution through the courts so that individuals, law abiding people were required to retreat when they were attack rather than being able to stand and defend themselves,” said Hammer.

Along with the increase in justifiable homicides, the number of conceal-carry weapon’s licenses have spiked in the last three years from just over 350,000 to more than 520,000.