For a lot of folks in Florida, 5 p.m. Friday can’t come soon sufficient, and others wish the moment would never reach. That’s the deadline for county election supervisors to report to the state on the number of verified voter signatures on petitions seeking to amend the state structure in November.

As the hours tick absent, attention focuses on two petitions, both of them controversial. Hometown Democracy’s petition would require voter approval for local land use changes that heighten development, and Florida4Marriage would put a ban on same sex

marriages into the structure. Both groups’ petition-gathering efforts are shrouded in mystery considering the state stopped giving daily updates Jan. 11.

Across the state, clerks are inundated with boxes filled with petitions. The state has put them on notice that any verification totals faxed to the Division of Elections after 5 p.m. today won’t be counted. John Stemberger of Florida4Marriage sent a letter to election supervisors earlier that week notifying them of last-minute stacks of petitions headed to their offices.