DU Alert: Reuters-Yahoo Poll Closing Time Map Dangerously Deceptive!

[Zorra]

I don't know if this has been done deliberately, it could mislead some voters, and prevent them from voting in western blue states:

The poll closing times listed for all the states are in Eastern(EST)Time.

Voters in other time zones may look at this map and very easily draw the conclusion that that the polls in the states where they vote are open later. That is what I did at first. When I looked at the map, I said to myself, "Oh, good. The polls on the West Coast are all open until 11:00. That's a great idea. I wonder why every state does not keep their polls open that long."

Then I noticed the line that said that all times were EST.

For example, the map gives the impression that polls in Washington, Oregon, and California are open until 11:00 PM in those states, when in reality they are only open until 8:00PM.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041030/photos_ts/states_pollclose2_graphic

The map accompanies this story:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20041030/ts_nm/campaign_dc_24

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041030/photos_ts/states_pollclose2_graphic

[requiem99]

1. Deliberate AS HELL. Making it "All times local" would have been easier

and MUCH more logical.

[mcg]

11. Reuters email: [e-mail]

Also the colors don't differ enough.

[barbaraann]

2. You're right. It's a trick.

Damn Yahoo!

[pabloseb]

3. I disagree

The point of the map is to show the temporal progression for those following the results. I don't think it's intended to remind people until what time they can vote.

[Zorra]

4. Whatever the intent of the map, it almost deceived me into thinking that

the polls on the west coast closed later than they actually do, and the could possibly deceive others.

Sometimes we do not study

[MockSwede]

16. NUTS

Of course it's misleading. Who gives a rat's ass when ANY poll closes other than your own? Local time is what matters. ANY idiot knows we have time zones in the US (check indiana - they don't do DST!) so the farther west the later, relatively, polls are open when compared to polls easterly.

It would be MORE interesting as an idle-time graphic to see any 'outliers' to the 8PM commonly used by most states.

Makes it more important to absentee ballot ahead of time and forget about Nov2 and timezones. I voted last week in ME. Kerry in a landslide.

[rlev1223]

5. Sent this to Reuters Wash. Bureau Chief

Don't know if that's the right place. Maybe others can blast Reuters at different addresses and request that local times be added.

[Zorra]

7. Great idea. The map is no longer pictured with the story.

[Xenus Sister]

6. It's not all EST

Chicago polls close at 8:00pm Central time. The map is correct. However, if I were to look at it and SEE the "all times EST" I might think, if I didn't know better, that our polls closed at *9:00pm* since EST is one hour ahead. Indiana voters might think *their* polls close at 7:00! (I don't know when Indiana closes, but do they really close at 6:00pm?)


It's really trying to mess people up!

[LouKYDem]

8. Another bad thing...

Kentucky's polls are shown as closing at 7 PM EST on that map. That would be true in the part of the state that is in the Central Time Zone... HOWEVER all polling places in Kentucky close at 6 PM for the local time. I live in Louisville, so since I'm in the Eastern timezone, polls close at 6 PM Eastern, but that map says the polls close at 7 PM Eastern, which is not the case in the Eastern timezone part of the state... very confusing. I hope nobody actually looks at this to determine how late they can vote (I always vote around 7 AM anyway).

[montana_hazeleyes]

9. At this point

in my heart I believe "they" will and have done anything and everything, no matter how big or small, to try to help bush*.

[DaveofCali]

10. Fuck REUTERS, trying to decieve people

I see this as highly deceptful.

On the other hand, Democrats see the details more than Republicans, so this map could actually decieve Republicans more :D

[1monster]

12. They've got Florida wrong, too. Polls here close at 7:00 p.m. not 7:30...

They've always closed at 7:00.

[SimpleMan]

13. Plus, here in the panhandle of FL...

We close an hour later than the rest of the state. We are CST.

[sundog]

14. yahoo is on my serious shit list right now

:grr:

[DaveofCali]

15. Isn't Jerry Yang (co-founder of yahoo) a Republican?

He donated money to the Bush Campaign.

However this image is from Reuters, not Yahoo.

[partisan to truth]

19. random info I found recently- yahoo is an acronym for

yet another hierarchical officious oracle

http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-22_11-5281229.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=tr

Not only did Yang contribute...
"Dell, for example, gave $25,000 to the Republican National Committee and $2,000 to Bush. Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers also gave $2,000 to Bush and recently hosted a fundraiser for the president. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Chairman Bill Gates also gave to Bush, as did Richard Parsons of Time Warner, eBay's Meg Whitman and Yahoo's Jerry Yang."

...they've gone a step further
"Of course individual contributions are just one way tech executives get political. Hosting a fundraiser can raise far more than the $2,000 that individuals can contribute to a candidate or even the $25,000 that one can contribute in a calendar year to a party's national committee. Many technology companies, such as Cisco, Intel, HP, Microsoft and Yahoo, have set up their own political action committees"

[wysiwyg]

17. Isn't Indiana Central time?

Does that mean Indiana closes the polls at 5:00pm? Geeze, if that's true no wonder they stay a GOP state if no one with a non-salaried job can freakin' vote!

[partisan to truth]

18. rated it a one- this could deceive a lot of people

:mad:

[FatDave]

20. Misleading in many ways

Has anybody considered the message at the top of the map?

Several states are on two time zones.

Why does this matter if all times are EST?

Closing times are for the latest or majority of closings within state.

Well, which is it then? Majority or latest? If it's majority for some states and latest for others (which would be completely contrary to the concept of conveying information anyway) then the criteria used should be given for each state.

Also, as mentioned before, the colors are too close. And it doesn't help that the map appears to show topography (the rocky mountains darken areas of the westen states, again, why would you do this if you were honsestly trying to convey information?).

I love this one: Anybody noticed that Florida has a color not represented in the key? Here's the RGB values of the colors used (in hexadecimal):

Florida: 9F A8 69
6pm: EC EC B6
7pm: BB BD 96
7:30pm: 90 97 47

Florida seems to be a shade somewhere between 7pm and 7:30pm. Maybe I should take that to mean 7:15...

I was ready to invoke Hanlon's Razor -- Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity -- but after considering everything, I have to think it's intentionally misleading.