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To fix Florida’s election problems, including six hour voting lines and slow results, the state’s top elections chief is holding a closed door meeting. This afternoon Secretary of State Ken Detzner met with members of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections. Our cameras weren’t allowed inside. We were told elections supervisors from Clay, Duval, Escambia, Martin, Pasco and Polk Counties were in attendance. Shortly before the start of the meeting Governor Rick Scott’s office sent out an email promising more meetings after the election is certified next week. No word yet on whether or not those meeting will be open to the public.

Tonight the State Capitol will be awash with blue light in recognition of World Diabetes Day.

Here is video from last year’s capitol lighting. The historic building is just one of hundreds around the world turning blue to raise awareness of the disease that affects 300 million people worldwide, including 1.5 million Floridians. Sixteen year old Haley May was diagnosed with type one diabetes five years ago.

“You really had to grow up really quickly because with diabetes you never really get a day off. It’s with you 24/7. So you really have to know how to count carbohydrates and learn math really quickly,” said Haley.

Type two diabetes can be prevented. It’s normally sparked by unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. Here are some stats from the Florida Department of Health about reducing your risk. For every 2.2 pounds of weight loss an overweight person can reduce their risk by 10 percent. Losing five to seven percent of total body weight can reduce risk by nearly 60 percent.

Governor Rick Scott is out of the state today mourning the loss of his mother. Esther Scott died yesterday. She was 84. Esther first made her debut in Florida politics in 2010, appearing in TV ads for her son and helping Scott pull off a razor thin victory. Deputy Secretary of Health, Dennis Cookro held a moment of silence today at the state capitol in honor of Ester.

“I’ve been through that in the past and it’s not a nice thing to lose your mother and I’d like to just ask for a very quick moment of silence for Governor Scott’s mother,” said Cookro.

After his mother’s passing Scott tweeted this message “My Mom… one of the only constants in my life… has passed away. Ann and I are comforted by all the thoughts and prayers for our family.”

There are calls tonight to write voter protection measures in to the state constitution.

Long lines and slow results have voter rights groups and Democrats calling for permanent changes to Florida’s election laws. As Whitney Ray tells us, the groups say changing the constitution is the only way to keep politics from dictating when and how people vote.

Could last week’s long lines that had voters waiting up to six hours to vote be a direct result of this bill? In 2011, over the cries of voter advocates, state lawmakers passed HB 1355, cutting early voting from 14 days to eight

“A lot of the problems we are seeing in this election were predicted,” said voter advocate Brad Ashwell.

Ashwell spoke out in 2011 and continues to cry out for election reform.

“I think there isn’t any realistic way to get the politics out, but we need to do our best to try,” said Ashwell.

The problem according to Ashwell is, every year after an election the party in power, and here in Tallahassee it’s the Republican Party, looks at all the data. They want to know who voted early, who voted absentee and which method gave their opponents an advantage. They then draft a bill making it harder for their opponents to vote.

“The political parties are telling them what they need to do for their own livelihood; they are giving them recommendations, writing bills for them,” said Ashwell.

The League of Women Voters is calling for a taskforce to explore election reform. Others are calling for a voter protection amendment in the state constitution.

Incoming House Speaker Will Weatherford says it’s still too early to tell how the problem should be solved.

“What ever the solutions are, they should reduce the fact that you have to sit in line for six hours to get your vote to count,” said Weatherford.

The legislature can vote a constitutional amendment on to the ballot, or petitioners can gather signatures for the amendment.

According to newspaper reports, House Bill 1355 was written by the same lawyer responsible for the felon voter purge debacle of 2000. The purge kept thousands of minority voters from casting ballots in that election.

Next week Representative Will Weatherford will be named Speaker of the Florida House.

Today Weatherford sat down with the capital press corps to talk about his legislative agenda. Weatherford wants to fix the state’s voting problems, improve education and get better control over secret money funding dirty political campaigns.

“Florida’s in desperate need of both ethics and campaign finance reform and I believe you can’t do real ethics reform without having campaign finance reform,” said Weatherford.

Incoming Senate President Don Gaetz is onboard with ethics reform. It’s been more than 30 years since state lawmakers have passed an ethics reform bill.

Let the bell ringing begin. The holiday season wouldn’t be complete without The Salvation Army bell ringers.

Today at the state capitol the charity group announced its annual Red Kettle Kickoff. From now through the end of the holiday season members of the Salvation Army will have their bright red kettles outside of stores across the state. Captain Julio Da Silva says the money raised over the next eight weeks has to last the Salvation Army the entire year.

“This is basically the only fundraiser we have all year. That’s why we need so badly the help of the community to get together with us and volunteer,” said Silva.

The Salvation Army is also launching its Angel Tree outreach. The trees are set up in malls across the state. People who want to help, can take an angle off the tree and then buy Christmas presents for the child who’s name is printed on the paper angel.

One point six million veterans call Florida home, and more are being added to their ranks as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan slowly wind down. As Whitney Ray tells us, the state is offering a helping hand to veterans looking for work, education and health benefits.

A veteran of the US Air Force, Jimmy Fox wasted no time enrolling at FSU.

“I don’t worry about tuition. It’s paid for with the post 9/11 GI Bill,” said Fox.

And starting his own business.

“You’re not just going to get a free ride out of the VA, you need to have a way of supporting yourself,” said Fox.

Florida has the third largest number of veteran owned businesses in the county. More than 176-thousand Florida soldiers have started their own companies. They employ more than 300-thousand people.

The state is helping them in their business endeavors. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is waiving rules to help soldiers become commercial fishermen.

And starting last month, The Department of Business and Professional Regulation began waiving business licensing fees for returning soldiers. There’s even more help coming from Tallahassee.

Florida State University Launched its Veteran’s Film Festival Monday. FSU has vowed to become the most veteran friendly campus in the county.

“When you come to FSU, your service is going to be respected. Your service is going to be appreciated. The student body is going to reach out and open their arms unto you,” said Colonel Billy Francis, the FSU Veterans Center Director.

With all the new help available, the problem becomes spreading the word. In September the state launched a website, floridavets.org, compiling information about state and federal programs.

More help is on the way. The newly formed Statewide Veterans Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting Wednesday in Tallahassee. The committee will focus on drug abuse and mental health problems effecting returning soldiers.

To celebrate Veteran’s Day, FSU is honoring a filmmaker helping break the silence on rape in the military. The Invisible War tells the story of female soldiers raped by their brothers-in-arms while serving overseas. This is the second year FSU has hosted its Veterans Film Fest. Colonel Billy Francis, the director of FSU’s Veterans Center says the festival is just the beginning.

“This vision is to build an ROTC building, a student veterans center and a WWII and human experience institute all in the same place on campus, a veterans legacy complex combining the past, present and future,” said Francis.

FSU has the only veteran’s film festival in the country. This year FSU President Eric Barron donated 25-thousand dollars out of his own pocket for the first every Torchlight Award. The award went to Kirby Dick, the filmmaker who created The Invisible War.

Hundreds of veterans and their supporters marched passed the state capitol today in celebration of Veteran’s Day. The parade in the capital city lasted for more than an hour. Veterans from WWII all the way through Operation Iraqi Freedom were on hand to celebrate. Vietnam Vet Milton Lewis says Veteran’s Day is a time to say thank you.

“They really need supporting. Anytime a man goes out and puts his life on the line for his country, he deserves all the honor,” said Lewis.

Attendants of today’s parade were divided on the outcome of last week’s presidential election, but everyone we spoke with said regardless of who is president, they support our armed forces.

Three days after the election and Florida is still too close to call. Long lines and a long ballot lead to slow results. As Whitney Ray tells us, the state is becoming the butt of jokes across the nation.

Florida sparked the ire of the nation for mistakes made in the 2000 presidential election. In 2012, it’s mainly laughs.

“Florida tonight remains too close to call. Where is the good news you say? The election was decided without them,” Jon Stewart.

A day after the election, Jon Stewart took shots at Florida. The jokes continued through Thursday with a re-enactment of seniors ballot counting on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

As of noon, Friday Palm Beach County was still counting provisional ballots. The state has unofficially gone to Obama, with his narrow 60-thousand vote lead.

State law requires all counties to report their election results by Saturday. On November 20th, the state canvassing board will meet to certify the results.

Two members of the board, Governor Rick Scott and Secretary of State Ken Detzner are taking heat for lines that kept voters in Miami waiting to vote until nearly 2AM.

“We’re going to determine what is the best resolution to eliminating lines,” said Detzner.

I sat down with Detzner Friday. He says their will be changes before Florida votes again.

“We will resolve the issues that need to be addressed and address them with the governor and the legislature,” said Detzner.

The main focus will be early voting sites. State law limited the sites to 300 this election, compared to more than 6-thousand on Election Day.

Angry and embarrassed voters are bombarding Governor Rick Scott with emails. On Scott’s open records site we counted 50 pages of messages regarding the election.

June from Palm Beach writes ”Would you please help me to understand why Florida is, once again, a Presidential voting laughing stock?”

Cathy from Flagler writes “Our state’s inability to count votes is embarrassing. Please lead and correct.”

And finally this email from Don in Escambia says quote “I’ll wait in line for a week to see you thrown out of office.”

Voters approved tax breaks for disabled veterans, widows of fallen police officers and low income seniors. The tax breaks are expected to cost Florida counties 12 million dollars statewide next year, but as Whitney Ray tells us, one amendment voters shot down would have cost local governments a whole lot more.

Disabled veterans, low income seniors and the spouses of police officers killed in the line of duty will see their property taxes go down next year.

“We’re grateful to the citizens of Florida for supporting that amendment,” said Matt Puckett.

Puckett with the Police Benevolent Association campaigned for Amendment nine, the ballot question giving spouses of police killed in the line of duty a tax break.

“It’s certainly an added benefit to them. It takes a burden off a struggling family,” said Puckett.

The constitutional amendment is expected to cost county and city governments 600-thousand dollars next year. Combined with tax cuts for disabled vets and seniors, local governments will lose 12 million dollars.

Spread over Florida’s 67 counties and compared to the billions of dollars local governments spend every year, the money will hardly be noticed. But there was one amendment on the ballot that would have hit local governments a lot harder.

“I think Florida dodged a bullet,” said Cragin Mosteller with the Florida Association of Counties.

Amendment four would have capped property tax increases and given first time home owners relief. The Florida Association of Counties says it also would have devastated local governments.

“A 1.7 billion dollar impact is what this could have had on Florida over four years on our counties and cities,” said Cragin Mosteller.

Just three of the 11 amendments on this year’s ballot passed. Political scientists say voters seemed to really understand what they were voting for.

“I thought the voters did a terrific job of really separating the wheat from the chaff,” said FSU Professor Carol Weissert.

All three of the property tax breaks go in to effect on January first. People who qualify for the tax breaks may have to notify their property appraiser and in some cases fill out an application. Those applications haven’t been created yet, but anyone who thinks they might qualify is being encouraged to call their local property appraiser.

Early voting ended in Florida Saturday, but people continue to cast ballots at elections offices throughout the state. As Whitney Ray tells us, in-person absentee voting sites opened today and Sunday in response to six hour waits during the early voting period.

At some voting sites in Miami Saturday people waited six hours to cast a ballot. In response to the long lines, Democrats suited to extend early voting and some elections supervisors opened up their offices for in-person absentee voting.

Monday morning word spread fast that the Leon County Courthouse was open for absentee voting.

“It was quick fast and easy,” said Nicole Hill.

“We went right in,” said Tammy Lucas.

Some voters were confused, they though they were casting an early ballot but in-person absentee voting is a little different. Instead of running the ballots through a voting machine, the votes are placed in envelopes.

There was also confusion about the 100 foot boundary for campaigning outside a polling site. Another difference between voting in-person absentee or voting early or on Election Day is our cameras are allowed inside while people are casting ballots.

Representative Alan Williams and other Democrats are promoting in-person absentee voting as a way around a new law cutting early voting from 14 days to eight.

“We want to make it easier and that is why we voted against House Bill 1355 because they had provisions in there that made it tougher for folks to vote,” said Williams.

Democrats filed legal challenges against the law but several federal judges found no problems with the changes.

So far more than 4.4 million Floridians have voted. During early voting 300 polling site were opened statewide. Tomorrow, on Election Day, 6-thousand sites will be opened from seven to seven.

Early voting will end at 7PM Saturday night, despite calls from Democrats and third party groups to extend the early voting period. A long ballot and record turnout are creating long lines at the polls and as Whitney Ray tells us, there are reports of people waiting four, five even six hours to vote.

At the back of a long line, two FAMU college coaches are using their lunch break to cast an early vote.

Reporter: How long do you think its going to take you to get to the front there and cast a ballot?
Wayne Angle: About an hour.
Reporter: Is that Ok with you?
Wayne: Absolutely, it’s a worthy cause.

One woman dragged a chair and a book along, anticipating a wait. Other voters stood in line and read a sample ballot. Breyona Bolden was dancing after she cast her ballot, her hour wait finally over.

But by noon on Friday, the wait had grown to an hour and a half and in some parts of the state people were reporting five and six hour waits.

Several factors are contributing to the long lines. There’s record turnout in some counties and statewide early voting has been cut from 14 days to eight. There are also 11 constitutional amendments on the ballot, which take an estimated 15 minutes to read through.

“Voting should be an easy and accessible process,” said League Spokeswoman Jessica Lowe Minor.

The League of Women Voters is joining calls from the Florida Democrats, asking Governor Rick Scott to extended early voting.

“We’re quit frustrated that we are seeing these long lines,” said Minor.

Florida’s Lt. Governor and Mitt Romney’s state Campaign Director both say they see no reason to extend early voting hours past the Saturday 7PM deadline.

“We still have days to vote. It’s not the end yet and we still have Election Day as well,” said Carroll.

“There’s no unusual circumstances. There’s no weather related events,” said Adam Putnam.

Democrats are winning the early voting battle. Party leaders say that’s why the governor won’t answer their calls for an early voting extension. Here is a look at a party breakdown of early and absentee voting so far: 3.4 million votes have been cast. 1.472 million by Democrats and about just under 1.4 million for Republicans . Third Party and NPA voters have cast a little more than half a million ballots.

Record turnout among youth voters in 2008 was one of several factors helping Barack Obama win the White House. President Obama is expected to win the youth vote again, but as Whitney Ray tells us, Mitt Romney is closing the gap.

The FSU College Republicans are oncampus in full force this election season.

The club’s chairman says concerns about jobs after graduation have students leaning toward Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.

“That’s why everyone is gravitating here. Most of these people are a year or two out from graduating and they want a career when they leave here,” said Chairman Matt Hoopfer.

Students were singing a different tune in 2008, when 66 percent of voters under 30 voted for Obama. A new poll shows youth support for the president dropping to 52 percent.

The drop in enthusiasm was apparent on FSU’s campus Thursday. A steady stream of students visited the Republican booth, but one table over a less ornate display for Obama went mostly unnoticed. We asked students at the table about the youth vote, but the students weren’t given permission to talk to the media. A mile down the road at FAMU, students were more vocal.

“He needs a little bit more time to change the country. You can ‘t just tell somebody to clean up the mess within four years,” said FAMU Junior Kelly Jackson.

Romney’s Florida Campaign Chairman says the economy has killed enthusiasm for Democrats among college students.

“There’s clearly not the campus movement, the student movement, and I think it’s because they know that their employment opportunities have diminished in the last four years, not grown,” said Chairman Adam Putnam.

Despite the shift, Obama is still expected to win the youth vote, but by a much smaller margin. The poll from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement also says about 10 percent of youth voters still haven’t settled on a presidential candidate.