ELECTION ALERT - AT 4:09 P.M. ET:  Something strange is going on in New Jersey.  Okay, I know.  That's not news.  But I think, as Arthur Miller wrote, attention must be paid. 

An attempt is being made by a New Jersey court to restrict exit polling.  News organizations don't like it.  From Newsmax;

Six major media outlets are asking a federal judge to stop enforcement of a New Jersey ruling that bans exit polling near voting sites.

The lawsuit was being filed in U.S. District Court on Friday by the National Election Pool. That's a consortium that includes The Associated Press, CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS.

A Sept. 30 state Supreme Court decision bars exit polling and all "expressive activity" within 100 feet of polling places.

The news group argues that exit polling is constitutionally protected. Federal courts have struck down similar attempts in other states.

Polling experts say the ban means error rates for exit polls will be much higher.

The New Jersey court said it is a reasonable restriction of free speech because all activity is banned.

COMMENT:  We don't often cheer the mainstream media, but we'll do it this time, noting that Fox is also included in the petitioning group. 

Exit polling, while it has its flaws, and can be done well or badly, is an important check on the honesty of elections.  One of the people who opposes exit polling is Jimmah Carter, which should incline you to be for it.  Carter once advised the Mexican government to ban exit polling.

Exit polling, unlike "official" means of tabulating votes, allows outside news organizations, after people vote, to check, generally, on the accuracy of the count.  If the exit poll, taken over the entire voting day, disagrees dramatically with the official count, it may indicate vote fraud. 

Exit polling, of course, is not the entire answer to crooked elections.  Keeping ACORN and the Black Panthers away from polling booths would be helpful.  It would also help, in Chicago and other places, to keep our dearly departed loved ones off the voting rolls, no matter how strongly we wish to keep their memory alive.  And, in places like St. Louis, it would be nice if the number of voters in some inner city precincts didn't exceed the number of people living in the precinct.

But exit polling helps.  The federal court should strike down the New Jersey restriction.

October 16, 2009