Election verification exit poll

Around the world, election exit polls standard of verification. In the US, media exit poll operators note that their polls are not designed to detect fraud. Rather, their purpose is to project winners of races and provide for news coverage. (q.v., National Election Pool)

An election verification exit poll’s objective is not to predict election results, but rather to audit or verify the accuracy of vote counts in selected precincts. Therefore, EVEP pollsters focus is on targeted precincts. Polling is done comprehensively to allow for verification of official election results in targeted precincts. For example, in the 2006 United States Congressional elections, The Warren Poll (sponsored by Election Integrity) interviewed approximately 6000 voters in selected precincts in Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester counties.

Due to the comprehensive nature of exit polls, if EVEP results differ significantly from the reported results in the targeted precincts. It is reasonable to conclude the presence of errors in the official count given that exit poll methodologies have normally proved quite reliable. Notwithstanding, an EVEP remains a survey and may suffer from the various problems experienced by any survey (e.g. weather, interviewer interaction, distance restrictions, etc.).

Exit polling in the United States, as well as in other countries of the world, has been used to question official results. For example, in the 2000 election in Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milošević claimed that he had defeated Vojislav Koštunica. However, exit polling cast great doubt of the accuracy of the reported count, suggesting that the vote count had been corrupted. Public and media pressure eventually forced Milošević to concede.

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