Nebraska senator introduces bill to keep exit pollsters away from voters

By The Associated Press

01.22.01

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LINCOLN, Neb. — Watching the chaos surrounding the presidential election returns in Florida prompted state Sen. Doug Kristensen to try to make sure the same could not happen in Nebraska.

After seeing television networks declare Al Gore the winner in Florida before dubbing the race "too close to call" and then ultimately giving the state to George W. Bush, Kristensen decided to target the source of the confusion — exit polls.

Exit polls are conducted by surveying various voters about their ballot choices as they leave polling places. They are conducted while the polls are open and are used by many news media organizations to forecast election results.

Kristensen introduced a bill to require that exit pollsters stay at least 1,000 feet away from polling places, more than the length of three football fields.

"We've seen enough abuse with exit polling ... nationally, where the media are more concerned with the vote total before voting is done," he testified Jan. 18 before a legislative committee on the bill.

The Florida confusion came as the result of exit polling done by Voter News Service, a consortium funded by ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC and the Associated Press. Created in 1990, it provides polling information to news organizations, which independently interpret the data.

The Voter News Service was blamed for making wrong calls in Florida on election night. It, in turn, is blaming a series of errors, miscalculations and plain "bad luck" for the trouble.

Nebraska law currently allows exit pollsters to interview voters within 20 feet of a polling place.

"My bill is to protect the voter who is intimidated or who is less likely to vote because they know that as soon as they vote — 10 steps outside of the door — they are going to be asked 'How did you vote? What's your age? What's your family background?' " he said. "It's a dissuasion for people to go to the polls."

Media of Nebraska attorney Alan Peterson argued that such a law would violate the constitution.

"The fact that there were mistakes made ... on the national election doesn't change the fact that in this country, people are allowed to talk to each other," he said. "People are interested in that information."

Kristensen recognized the potential conflicts in his proposal between the right of free speech and the right to vote.

"There's a balance in there somewhere," he said.

Several courts in other states have stricken down laws that called for buffer zones as close as 150 feet from a polling place.

Kristensen said he would not object if his proposal, Legislative Bill 125, were rolled into another measure he introduced. That measure, LB67, spawned by the recounts problems in Florida, would create a task force to study Nebraska's election system to see where improvements might be made.

In the end, the committee amended the exit poll bill to decrease the distance to 200 feet and sent it to the Legislature for consideration.

In Congress, at least a dozen bills are being prepared to improve elections — from granting money for new vote-counting machines, examining the effects of broadcasting exit poll information or tightening voter registration.

Related

Voter News Service scraps exit-poll plans
Some survey data offered, but news consortium said its computer system was not analyzing information properly.  11.06.02