Donald Burrill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in sci.stat.edu:
>In general, I refuse to answer such polls,
>either beforehand or after I have voted (what they call, I think, "exit
>polls").
There's something to be said for exit polls. In the headlong rush
toward electronic voting, where there is _no_ verification, _no_
possibility of a recount, and _no_ possibility of determining
whether actual votes are even recorded, an exit poll may soon be the
only indication we have that the wrong winner was declared.
>According to my political understanding, we are supposed to be
>casting secret ballots, and on that basis I consider it nobody else's
>business how I vote, or intend to vote, or did vote. (Private
>conversations among friends and colleagues are of course a different
>matter; but polls are NOT private conversations and rather seldom
>involve friends and colleagues.)
Secret ballot means you are not forced to declare your choice
publicly. As you note, you have the absolute prerogative to disclose
your vote to whomever you wish. I don't see the difference between
telling friends and telling a pollster, except that the friends will
associate your vote with your name and perhaps feel differently
about you and the pollster won't.
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"People that read tabloids deserve to be lied to."
-- Jerry Seinfeld, on /60 minutes/
.
.
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