Amendment 12 asks Floridas voters the toughest question on the 2012 ballot?Not really.

UPDATED -- Incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson holds a 5-percentage-point lead over Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, according to the latest Sunshine State News Poll, just as early voting in Florida begins and the race moves into its final days.

The battle now shifts to the remaining 7 percent of undecideds, the bulk of whom live along the Central Florida Interstate-4 corridor.

During the past spring's legislative session in Tallahassee, state lawmakers in a bipartisan effort passed House Joint Resolution 931, the student appointment to the Florida Board of Governors (BOG). This resolution will take the form of Amendment 12 on this years ballot.

The latest battle brewing across Florida centers on controversial county ordinances that would require employers to offer paid sick time, a move that would increase costs for small businesses still hurting in this severe recession.

In Orlando, Citizens for a Greater Orange County collected enough signatures to have the question placed on the November ballot. If voters pass it, all businesses within Orange County with 15 or more employees must provide paid sick leave.

For the average voter in the state of Florida, questions about the legitimacy of the election process are about as common as candidates specific platforms or policies.

In the past two weeks leading up to the general election, more examples of voter intimidation, perceived fraud and misinformation are cropping up and affecting residents from all political bents, once again putting into doubt the electoral legitimacy in one of the nations most important swing states.

Plans for a 36-million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant in Highlands County are being scrapped by BP Oil, which announced Thursday it will seek investment opportunities elsewhere.

Backing off plans announced in 2008 to build the cellulose-based ethanol plant in south-Central Florida, BP said it is ending its pursuit of commercial ethanol production in the United States entirely and will instead focus on developing the next generation of bio-fuel technology.

Bernie DeCastro is an ex-convict running for sheriff of Marion County on an obscure third-party ticket; and he might win.

That's because the redeemed jailbird-turned-social worker, whom Jeb Bush once referred to as "one of my heroes," is the only man in the race whose name appears on the ballot.