Congressman wants 'raw' exit poll data
By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY   09 December 2004
A top House Democrat who is investigating allegations of voting irregularities on Election Day wants the media to show him the confidential, "raw" data from the exit polls of voters they did this year.

Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that he doesn't know whether the information would answer questions about whether problems at the polls led to miscounts in the presidential election. Most polling experts who have studied exit polls doubt the data would be of use.

But, Conyers maintained, "if we can compare that data to some of the other information we have, it has the potential to be of significance" if it sheds more light on voters' intentions. He plans to ask for the information within a week.

The media organizations that paid for the information are expected to turn down such a request. Though the media publish information, "they don't have to give anybody their notes or reveal all their methods," said Jack Shafer, media critic and editor at large for Slate, an online magazine.

The polling firms that produced the exit poll data have declined a similar request from Conyers.

Because Republicans control Congress, Conyers will likely only be able to call attention to the issue. His effort has been spurred in part by charges that in some states, particularly Ohio, shortages of voting machines and other problems may have been discouraged minority voters from casting ballots for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Conyers held a hearing on the Ohio allegations Wednesday.

Exit polls attempt to measure voters' preferences and attitudes as they leave voting places.

The media's exit polls are paid for by a consortium of the Associated Press, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC. Other media organizations, including USA TODAY, pay the consortium for access to the data.

Edie Emery, a spokeswoman for the consortium, said the group did not want to comment on Conyers' request. She said that, as after past elections, much of this year's data "will be archived at the Roper Center and the University of Connecticut in early 2005."

In addition, she said, the firms that produced the exit polls are reviewing this year's results and will submit a report to the AP and networks "in mid- to late-January."

The information Conyers wants typically isn't made public. He's looking for the late afternoon or early evening rough estimates of who was ahead. That data are only supposed to be used to help reporters and editors plan stories.

The reason the data may not be of much help to Conyers, said Joan Konner, dean emerita of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, is that the margin of error is just too large ? especially if the information is sliced into smaller and smaller "subgroups."