Did Networks Fake Exit Polls??

[shance]

Did Networks Fake Exit Polls, While AP 'Accessed' 2,995 Mainframe Computers?

by Lynn Landes 1/5/05

Why have exit polls historically matched election results?

How about this? It's all made up. It's a scam. A con. A fake. A fraud. Since they first started "projecting" election night winners in 1964, the major news networks have never provided any 'hard' evidence that they actually conducted any exit polls, at all. Researchers and activists who point to the disparity between the early exit polls and the 2004 election results, have failed to consider the obvious - that exit polls never existed to begin with.

That was the conclusion of the late-Collier brothers, authors of the book, VoteScam: The Stealing of America. In 1970, Channel 7 in Miami projected with 100% accuracy (a virtual impossibility) the final vote totals on Election Day. When the Colliers asked the networks where they got their exit poll data, both Channel 3 & Channel 7 claimed that the League of Women Voters sent it in from the precincts. But, the League's local president tearfully denied it, saying, "I don't want to get caught up in this thing." The broadcasters then told the Colliers that a private contractor used the data from a single voting machine to project the winners. But, the contractor said he got the data from a University of Miami professor, who in turn denied it. In the end, the news broadcasters appeared to have pulled the polling numbers out of thin air.

Not much has changed since then. According to their website, The National Election Pool (NEP) was created by ABC, AP (Associated Press), CBS, CNN, Fox, and NBC to provide tabulated vote counts and exit poll surveys for the 2004 election. These six major news organization appointed Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International as the sole provider of exit polls for the most important political races of 2004. The AP collected the vote tallies.

But actually, the networks and Mitofsky have been collaborating under different organizational titles, such as Voter News Service, since 1964. And the AP may be doing more than "collecting" vote tallies.

Nothing about the 2004 election makes sense.

The numbers don't add up. The surveys don't match up. But, the networks have clammed up. Despite mounting questions and controversy, the networks continue to stonewall. Citing proprietary claims (something the voting machine companies like to do), the NEP won't release the raw exit poll data. Okay. Maybe they have a point. However, they also won't release any logistical information either, particularly where and when the exit polling was conducted. And that's definitely not cricket.

John Zogby, President of Zogby International, a well-known polling company, said that such complete non-transparency is a "violation of polling ethics".

Under the American Association for Public Opinion Research code, Section III, Standard for Minimal Disclosure: "Good professional practice imposes the obligation upon all public opinion researchers to include, in any report of research results, or to make available when that report is released, certain essential information about how the research was conducted. At a minimum, the following items should be disclosed, Part 8 - Method, location, and dates of data collection."

Great website.

http://www.ecotalk.org/NEP.htm

[Hamlette]

1. not sure about nationally, but we have a local exit polling company

and I've been asked every time I've voted if I would participate.

My thinking of the exit poll being off so far this year (assuming it was off and I'm not sure it was but that's a different conspiracy theory altogether) is that people who voted for Bush were ashamed of it and would not participate.

You can tell them no, you don't want to be polled. And it's done out in the open. So if you are ashamed about who you voted for....you'd decline to be polled.

My sister in law just now admitted voting for bush. For the dumbest damned reason I'd ever heard. I wanted to push further but everyone else in the family (all dems) pulled me out of the house when the subject came up. They knew trouble was brewing.

[shance]

2. LOL!** Like your style Hamlette.

The heart and conviction of a Dem and the assertiveness of a (true)Republican*** Always a good blend.

It seems from what I am seeing and even for those of our leaders discussing and concerned about the issue, the power lies in communities taking their voting rights back, which means individuals like you and me being elected to voting commissions. These offices have flown under the radar from most citizens (at least in level of importance) and that seems to be where most of the corruption has ensued, from their quiet dealings away from potential public scrutiny.

Like the voter machines, the lack of transparancy or even the research necessary and difficulties in obtaining information about the voting procedures is interesting. We have made a lot of progress though in the past few years. Now we have built a base, now its time to start walking the neighborhoods, passing out fliers, tabling efforts and pounding on doors of elected officials.

[AP]

9. Was your sis-in-law's reason fear-related?

[Hamlette]

15. first she said "he's too liberal"

I said, he's the 30th most liberal Senator, not the 1st as the liars said. She looked shocked. then she said "I don't like his stand on abortion, he voted against the ban on partial birth abortion."

I said: Are you against abortion in all cases?

She said: No. I think it should be legal to save the life of the mother.

I said: Partial Birth Abortion is ONLY used in the 3rd trimester. You can only get an abortion in the 3rd trimester if your life is in danger, or preserve the health of the mother. Therefore, partial birth abortion is only used to save the life of the mother.

She looked shocked. I was hustled out of the house amid dirty looks from my hubby (her brother) and the others.

The reason the issue is so insane is she grew up in a Dem household (labor) her husband is a republican (way Mormon) so she votes how he tells her to vote. He's a doctor. He knows, or damned well better, that her argument was ridiculous. So why didn't he educate her?

Makes me mad all over again. Not just her stupidity but that if he's telling her how to vote he's lying to her.

[Patchuli]

22. Personally,

I find it appalling that a husband would tell his wife how to vote!
On the other hand, if she didn't understand what partial birth abortion meant, and her husband's a doctor?! then maybe she should just sit out
voting...

I don't understand why your husband was mad at you. America's a free country, right? Right?????

[Hamlette]

23. which is why I was so angry, Patchuli

that she was so uninformed, and that he a doctor didn't inform her of the facts before he influenced her vote. Hell, she's head of the PTA in my state. God save the children.

I think my husband was more anxious than angry. It was a celebratory family party and it was coming to an end, we were all getting ready to leave when she said she'd voted for Bush. I think he just didn't want any ill will as he thinks his sister is beyond hope. (I'd gotten all her kids to vote for Kerry, thought she would have too.)

I should email her some articles. Maybe I could work on her. Of course my state is SO red, a vote here or there makes no difference.

[Patchuli]

25. I don't totally believe this red state/blue state deal

I think it's a scheme to keep us all divided up and arguing.
I believe 100% (after downloading the program that changes vote tallies and trying it myself) that Kerry won, even among many Republicans. I precinct walked for registration in my (blue) state and I was stopped in the street by Republicans who told me that they were so disgusted with Bush and his crew that they were crossing the party line and voting Kerry! I had people change their minds about voting Bush after we discussed the war in Iraq for a few minutes. Thinking people voted with their common sense but BushCo cheated.

KERRY 1!!!!!!!!!! And I believe it will be proven.

Why the heck did your sister in law's bossy husband tell her to keep her voting history to herself? It's not like YOU started it! At a friend's party before Christmas, her son's bigmouthed girlfriend said "I won, I won! My president won!" She knew she was in a Blue household surrounded by progressives so she obviously was spoiling for a fight.

I said "Yeah, and just what did you win? Please enlighten me." Of course she was clueless as to why this was supposedly good for America. She made herself look like a dufus with little help from me. I think my friend told her to chill out because no one wanted to hear it because she shut up.

[d_b]

26. Heh, lame.

I have quite a few lady friends who voted for Bush because husband said so.

[KaliTracy]

10. if they were ashamed in the beginning of the day (when Kerry was

ahead) -- what made them change their mind to tell pollsters who they voted for in the evening?

This really wasn't a fence sitting year for those who identify as strongly (or semi-strongly) Republican or strongly (or semi-strongly) Democrat. People who believed in * wore their bumperstickers proudly. I know of more people who voted for * in 2000, and quietly (or not so quietly) voted for Kerry this time.

Take the weird "dixicrat" angle media talked about in Florida.

I could see maybe a slight increase for Democratic voters towards Republican. But not 60+% Registered Democrats, 30% Registered Republicans, yet 70+% votes for Bush. (as reported on NRP November 3rd -- interview with Pam Fessler and "voting myths"). That makes NO sense. There are additional unofficial charts showing that there are more districts in Florida *that used machines* that this discrepancy also occurred. And that instead of media and others shrugging this anomaly off to the "moral values" vote, and that "more people are voting Republican" explanation, that at least one or two of those districts showing a discrepancy such as this are investigated in some way -- not to vote again, but perhaps to find out how one voted. This needs to be done in several states -- if not the entire country. Seems to me if someone voted for one candidate, and they truly believed their vote counted, they aren't going to switch gears, and tell the opposite answer to a poll or a survey. Which is probably why so many people question the discrepancy in the exit poll data in the first place.

By the way, I live in Ohio. Something was not right, not only in our state, but many states. I only hope that investigation continues and those responsible are found and punished.

[Hamlette]

16. did the exit polls "correct" at the end of the day?

I heard they wouldn't release the final numbers unless you paid for them and the results we had were as of 6 pm (or 4 pm?)

[KaliTracy]

17. Rep. Conyers is trying desperately to get the Raw Data -- he asked

Mitofsky -- and when he refused, asked each of the media outlets.

There is good indication from people who were keeping screen shots, have video tape of the day, etc. that when they first announced exit poll results Kerry was ahead -- and then much, much later things were "corrected" to reflect * getting the votes at the end of the day.

Have you seen the Conyer's report, released January 5th (link below)? It mentioned that the exit polls were ok in most states, but shifted in a big way for a few, like Ohio (and remember, Ohio had those long lines ---- people waiting 2, 4, 6 hours to vote --- and they all must have voted for *!)

from page 74 of the report. "In the Ohio election for 2004, early exit polls that were released just after noon on November 2 showed that Senator Kerry was leading President Bush by three percentage points (footnoted). Shortly after midnight on November 3, exit poll data continued to indicate that 52.1% of Ohio voters selected Senator Kerry and 47.9% selected President Bush (footnoted). These numbers, however, differed greatly from the final results of the election; in the official results, President Bush led Senator Kerry by 2.5 percentage points in Ohio (footnoted)." {emphasis mine}

The Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff: http://www.pdamerica.org/field/final%20status%20report.pdf
see pages 72-77 for discussion of Exit Polls.

[Kansas Wyatt]

21. Did anyone hear the Republican Party saying before the election....

That they were advising all Republicans to vote early, preferably by absentee ballot?

If a sizable number of Republicans did vote early, then where did all of Shrub's alleged late voters come from?

[Clark2008]

19. self-delete

The question was answered further down the thread.

[brindis_desala]

3. People have to keep pressing this issue. Exit polls are vital

if we are to have real elections. Zogby is 100% correct that this warrants a blue ribbon commission but unless the people scream their lungs out it won't happen. The networks have ALWAYS fudged the exit polls only this time I suspect something more sinister. MAKE NOISE!

[Old and In the Way]

4. At the risk of sounding like a broken record.......

Democrats ought to be announcing a major canvassing of the 2004 election. Do a national random poll that asks people who they voted for. Get them to sign affidavits attesting to the fact. Include Republicans, too. Let's see if our results match with what we are told by the corporate media.

Memo to the DNC. You need to do this because:

(1) Can we trust the results of an election where people vote on Republican machines, in a process controlled by Republicans (like Blackwell), and reported by a media biased towards the Republicans?

(2) Either the results will validate that Bush won....in which case, we have work to do to convince the voters that we have a better vision for America....or Kerry won and it's time to start criminal proceedings against those that have subverted our democracy.

(3) You need to send a signal to the base that you are not going to accept Republicans telling us we've lost yet again, when we have strong evidence that suggests Kerry was the winner of the election.

[shance]

5. That's a good idea. What about doing an independent canvassing?

I wonder if a national election reform organization would/could take something like that on?

Im all for the DNC doing it, and yet that could appear political wouldnt it? Not that I give a hoot about appearences really but of course the Republican media does.

Might defeat the whole purpose. Thoughts?

[KaliTracy]

11. Pacifica Radio is doing some....

but not nationally that I know of.

[Old and In the Way]

14. How about the League of Women Voters?

I understand why it would be viewed as a partisan undertaking.....but no one would stop Republicans from doing the same. Affidavits are a legal testement of the person's statements, too. I'm all for keeping this as objective as possible, but my problem is that secret ballots could be used against majority nterests now.

If there is widespread and systematic fraud as many suspect, then we need to validate or refute this assumption. Otherwise, we'll be losing and questioning the results for generations to come.

[shance]

18. Be interesting to do some research there.

n/t

[KaliTracy]

7. No broken record, it needs to be said! I agree totally. n/t

[neebob]

6. Okay, but why would they fake them in favor of Kerry?

If they're all tools of Bushco, I mean. And if all the previous polls were faked but somehow matched, why did these faked polls not match?

Maybe I'm slow, but the big aha! is not happening for me.

[shance]

20. That's a good point.

and I dont have an answer.

[AP]

8. I have a friend who was a paid exit poller in OH.

I can't remember who paid him, but it was an organization I'd heard of.

So somebody is out there trying to do exit polls.

My friend said that they tried to get every precinct this year.

However, I've voted at the polling place only a few times in my life (I almost always vote absentee) and I've never been exit polled. Then again, I've never lived in a state or precinct where there was ever a tight race for president.

[shance]

12. Ive never been exit polled either. I like the idea of an independent

poll being done by citizens at large.

If we could do a poll where there is no vested interest other than an honest outcome,(make it an independent/bipartisan/voluntary project), that could be a meaningful endeavor.

[KaliTracy]

13. I live in Ohio -- was not exit polled -- never have been. I live in a

"red" neighborhood. (Bush rallied here, in West Chester, (with draw from Cincinnati and Dayton, I'm sure) to over 50,000 people.

[Melynn]

24. The exit polls were real

The election results were faked. Oh, excuse me, we are suppose to get over a stolen election and move on. So says the corporate media.

Ok. I will be a good American monkey and be happy all of the time.