Letters to the Editor • Voting - Election Integrity
CITIZEN'S EXIT POLL - REPORT
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