AP: Plan would Lift SD's Exit Poll Limit......Legal Case about "Exit Polling!"

[KoKo]

APNewsBreak: Plan would lift SD's exit poll limit

By CHET BROKAW, Associated Press Writer Tue May 20, 8:31 PM ET

PIERRE, S.D. - South Dakota officials and six news organizations proposed a legal settlement Tuesday that would allow exit polling within 100 feet of a voting place.

The lawsuit by the news organizations argued that a state law barring exit polling near voting places violates the First Amendment because it restricts speech and commentary about the political process and limits media opportunities to gather information about elections.

South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long said the agreement appeared prudent because courts previously have ruled against similar restrictions on exit polling.

"The state is conceding we cannot enforce that portion of the statute which keeps the exit pollers 100 feet away from the polling place," the attorney general said.

The agreement was filed Tuesday in federal court, but U.S. District Judge Lawrence L. Piersol had not yet signed it. He could accept the agreement, reject it or seek to modify it.

The settlement would prevent the state from applying the distance restrictions on exit polling in the June 3 primary and subsequent elections. Other portions of the law, which prevent campaigning or other disruptive behavior close to polling places, will remain in effect.

The lawsuit was filed by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News and The Associated Press. Those news organizations sponsor the exit polls, which question people who have voted to find out their views and why they voted as they did.

The news organizations sued after Secretary of State Chris Nelson indicated in an April e-mail that exit polling would be allowed only within the bounds of the law.

The accuracy and reliability of exit polling would be harmed if the questioning were not allowed within 100 feet of voting locations, according to the lawsuit. It noted that at that distance, some voters might get into cars and leave before they can be questioned.

Those doing the questioning usually ask voters in a set pattern, such as every fourth of fifth voter, whether they would fill out brief, anonymous questionnaires. If pollers cannot interview voters in that manner, the information becomes less reliable, the lawsuit said.

Exit polls provide information valuable to news organizations and scholars because they help analyze voting patterns according to gender, age, income, race, religion and other categories. The information helps explain how and why people voted for or against particular candidates.

Legal arguments filed by the news organizations said that exit pollers approach voters only after they have cast ballots and that the polling does not disrupt voting locations. There is no evidence that exit polling has ever interfered with the conduct of an election anywhere in the nation, the lawsuit said.

Part of the proposed settlement says state officials still can "preserve the integrity of the election process by maintaining peace, order and decorum at all polling places in South Dakota" and still can enforce any other provision of South Dakota's election laws.