What's the status on Exit Polling for the election?

[Flubadubya]

Remember 2002? Wasn't this the first time that touch screen voting was in place fairly prominently and the group that normally does exit polling around the country threw up their hands at the last minute and said they weren't going to do it for some reason?

I was just wondering what the status was on this effort for the presidential election. It's great that Michael Moore is going to go with cameras to Florida, and it's great that more people are scrutinizing the election, but it seems to me the only real antidote to black box voting is exit polling.

Exit polling has been shown historically to be highly accurate. It seems the only way to spotlight real discrepancies between what the machines say and what the people say. I say, it really must be done, but I don't have a clue what the plans are (if any) for this.

[OneBlueSky]

1. MoveOn or someone may have to fund it themselves . . .

at least in key districts in key states . . . the ones most likely to be tampered with . . . they could use some of Soros' money, hire a reputable firm, and invite both parties to send observers . . .

it amazes me that states and the Congress are still allowing the use of touchscreen systems owned by Republican firms that can basically be programmed to do whatever they want them to, with no possible way of auditing or, in the case of hanky-panky, getting caught . . . more fundamentally, why are we turning our election process -- the basis for our democracy -- over to private, profit-making corporations? . . . it's outrageous, and shouldn't be allowed to happen! . . . where are our representatives? . . . and why are they allowing this hijacking of our democracy to take place? . . .

this is something Kerry and Edwards should speak up on, loudly and often, starting right now! . . .

[Flubadubya]

3. Some rationale for eliminating exit polling...

This is from a story dated February 3, 2001 and it mentions this:

The networks and the AP are members of Voter News Service, which provided exit polling data and voter tabulations. VNS data has been criticized as flawed, and the report said VNS used outmoded technology that the networks failed to upgrade.

VNS' own future is in doubt. Its members are reviewing another report on the company's Election Night performance and deciding whether to pour more money in or start something new from scratch.

http://www.ljworld.com/section/nationalpolitics/story/41510

And then this one from December 5, 2000:

The best thing, of course, would be for networks to voluntarily stop exit polling entirely. The next best we can hope for is that networks will now understand that they have an enormous civic responsibility to show restraint. At the very least, they should stop making calls about a state while any polls in that state remain open.

http://www.texnews.com/abilene2000/elec/net1205.html

What it looks like they have done is put much of the blame for the 2000 election fiasco on exit polling. Instead of being "problematic" for the 2004 election, however, it could very well be the salvation of democracy.

These articles were written, obviously, before BBV even became an issue. However, it looks like the bad press for exit polling began then, and the slide away from it actually fits very nicely into their rationale for not doing it anymore. It's all very convenient for the republican-owned BBV industry, wouldn't you say?

[never_get_over_it]

2. "They" would have you believe that

exit polling is not accurate because of Florida - but you know what the exit polling was exactly right in FL - way more people intended to vote for Gore in FL - bad mouthing and trying to keep exit polling from happening is just another tool in "their" election stealing tool bag.

[Flubadubya]

4. Yup...

My post #3 actually is an appropriate response to your statement here.

[Flubadubya]

5. Another interesting note from 2003...

The first and last parts from an article dated January 13,2003:
--------------------
Voter News Service Dismantled
Monday, January 13th 2003
NEW YORK -- Citing reporting failures in the last two elections, the six major news organizations that underwrite the Voter News Service announced on Monday they are disbanding the consortium they created to count votes and conduct surveys on Election Day.

<snip>

Consortium members are also thinking about several alternatives for building a new exit poll operation. In a statement, VNS board members said Monday they "are collectively reviewing a number of strong options for how to provide the tabulation of the national vote count as well as state and national exit polls for the 2004 election."

An announcement, said the VNS board, "will be forthcoming."

http://www.datalounge.com/datalounge/news/record.html?record=20464
---------------

I did find an apparent "follow up" in this article from 02/05/03...
----------------------------
New 'Voter News Service' announced
14:46 GMT, Wednesday 5th February 2003 -- by James Welsh
A new version of the unreliable Voter News Service was unveiled late Tuesday by its consortium of America's major news broadcasters - the Associated Press, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News Channel and NBC.

The new incarnation of the VNS, which failed spectacularly to deliver reliable results for the 2000 Presidential election and the 2002 mid-terms, is known as the "National Elections Pool", or NEP.

The NEP, which allows broadcasters to share polling costs, has hired Mitofsky Intl. and Edison Media Research to provide projections based on exit poll data for the Democratic primary elections and indeed the 2004 general election. The AP will provide vote counts.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds10319.html
----------------------------

This will be interesting to see. Will have to research "Mitofsky Intl. and Edison Media Research.

[Flubadubya]

6. Another interesting note from 2003...

The first and last parts from an article dated January 13,2003:
--------------------
Voter News Service Dismantled
Monday, January 13th 2003
NEW YORK -- Citing reporting failures in the last two elections, the six major news organizations that underwrite the Voter News Service announced on Monday they are disbanding the consortium they created to count votes and conduct surveys on Election Day.

<snip>

Consortium members are also thinking about several alternatives for building a new exit poll operation. In a statement, VNS board members said Monday they "are collectively reviewing a number of strong options for how to provide the tabulation of the national vote count as well as state and national exit polls for the 2004 election."

An announcement, said the VNS board, "will be forthcoming."

http://www.datalounge.com/datalounge/news/record.html?record=20464
---------------

I did find an apparent "follow up" in this article from 02/05/03...
----------------------------
New 'Voter News Service' announced
14:46 GMT, Wednesday 5th February 2003 -- by James Welsh
A new version of the unreliable Voter News Service was unveiled late Tuesday by its consortium of America's major news broadcasters - the Associated Press, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News Channel and NBC.

The new incarnation of the VNS, which failed spectacularly to deliver reliable results for the 2000 Presidential election and the 2002 mid-terms, is known as the "National Elections Pool", or NEP.

The NEP, which allows broadcasters to share polling costs, has hired Mitofsky Intl. and Edison Media Research to provide projections based on exit poll data for the Democratic primary elections and indeed the 2004 general election. The AP will provide vote counts.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds10319.html
----------------------------

This will be interesting to see. Will have to research "Mitofsky Intl. and Edison Media Research.

[Flubadubya]

7. Weird stuff going on here...

Tried to delete dupe immediately. Got error messge that time had expired for editing. ??? :shrug: Also, what's with the duplicate posts?