TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The contest to pick a new state song is halfway over and, so far, only about 5,000 people have voted for one of the three finalists.

That's prompting concerns from some people who argue the song should not be picked by just a handful of the state's 18 million residents.

The "Just Sing, Florida" online contest runs for one month and gives Floridians a chance to vote on one of three songs as their favorite.

Two state lawmakers want to replace the current state song "Old Folks at Home," also known as "Swanee River," because its lyrics have been criticized as racist.

Sen. Anthony Hill, D-Jacksonville, said he believes the song, which has been the official state song since 1935, is not appropriate.

"It should not be identified with the 1.8 million people living the state today," Hill told Local 10.com.

Gov. Charlie Crist chose not to play "Swanee River" at his inauguration, feeling the song is offensive to many people.

"I don't think it respects all of our citizens as much as it should," Crist told Local 10.com.

One of the contending songs makes only a brief mention of the Suwanee River, another extols Florida as the place "Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky," and the third hails the "Land of the sunshine, by flowers defined."

The finalist submissions were received by "Just Sing, Florida" a contest and a Web site managed by the Florida Music Educators' Association.

"There were lots of good songs submitted, but we were looking for something unlike any song out there and we are very pleased with the top three," said James Perry, executive director of the FMEA.

Many states have multiple state songs including official, unofficial or honorary including Tennessee, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Kentucky. If a bill is passed during the next legislative session, this will be the third song for the state, though Florida has many unofficial songs that have been celebrated, including "The Florida Song," written by jazz musician Charles Atkins and the song that was played at Crist's inauguration.

Voting will close at midnight on Jan. 10, 2008. It has tallied 5,350 votes so far, but 10 percent of those votes are invalid because the voters did not include a legitimate cell phone number on the Web site's registration form.

The winner of the competition will be announced on Jan. 11, 2008, at the FMEA convention in Tampa.