Several of us conducted a Citizen’s Exit Poll during the primary election on November 2, 2010 at a polling location near the 101 and University in Tempe, Arizona.  This particular location served two districts: Tempe 7 and Tempe 12.

We experienced a fantastic turnout and, according to the numbers displayed on the machines, was able to get about one-third of the voters at our location to participate in the poll by completing an abbreviated ballot after they had voted on an official ballot inside the polling location.

Our abbreviated exit poll ballot consisted of:  U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative – District 5, State Treasurer, Governor, Attorney General, County Attorney, and Propositions 106, 107, 111, 112, 203, and 302.

At the closing of the polls, we witnessed the poll workers printing and signing the poll tapes and placing them in sealed bags along with the chips from the counting machines.  The physical ballots that were fed into the machines were also pulled but were kept separate from the bags containing the tapes and chips.

Drew and Mark, who were part of our camera crew, interviewed a large-ish gentleman who told us that he was instructed to take the two sealed envelopes containing the poll tapes and computer chips.  We found it interesting and further clarified with the gentleman that he was instructed to take these items alone.

Although they seemed quite uncomfortable, all of the poll workers were courteous and cooperative while about 8 of us and three cameras witnessed the closing of the polls.

After we witnessed the closing of the polls, five of us went over to I-Hop and counted the exit poll ballots.  We had 110 ballots* and the results were as follows:

U.S. Senator:

Rodney Glassman              46 votes

John McCain                       49 votes

David Nolan                          8 votes

Jerry Joslyn                           4 votes

U.S. Representative – District 5:

Harry Mitchell                       51 votes

David Schweikert                 47 votes

Nick Coons                           7 votes

State Treasurer:

Andrei Cherny                      51 votes

Doug Ducey                         40 votes

Thane Eichenauer              7 votes

Thomas Meadows               1 vote

Governor:

Terry Goddard                       59 votes

Jan Brewer                            41 votes

Barry Hess                            4 votes

Larry Gist                               2 votes

Attorney General:

Felicia Rotellini                    57 votes

Tom Horne                            41 votes

County Attorney:

Bill Montgomery                   43 votes

Michael Kielsky                    30 votes

Propositions:

106 (re Health Care)                       NO  (48 to 46)

107 (re Affirmative Action)             NO  (50 to 43)

111 (re Lt. Governor)                       NO  (63 to 29)

112 (re filing deadlines)                  NO  (49 to 43)

203 (re Medical Marijuana)            YES (78 to 28)

302 (re Child Dev. Programs)        NO  (79 to 18)

*Please note that the tallied votes do not always add up to the total number of ballots because several ballots contained instances where the voters abstained from providing a response in a particular category.  Interestingly, we found this most often in the race for County Attorney.

At the end of a long and tiring day, it was our humorous conclusion that although Terry Goddard could quite possibly be our new governor, at least we could get a prescription for marijuana and get high enough not to care about it.  J