Exit Polling and Election Fraud

On Thursday, September 7th, Tracy Costin, the owner of polling firm DataUSA Inc., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a case that has further exposed the questionable reliability of exit polling and opinion polls in general. Costin has to repay over $80,000 to 11 clients from 2002 to 2004 and has worked for clients like President Bush and Senator Joe Lieberman. This story got a small AP writeup and I am not certain how widespread it has been in the media, but I think it is no small incident and anytime such a fraud is perpetrated on the public it should be front page news.

Costin and staff instructed people to doctor polling numbers and generate fake gender, ethnicity, and other statistics when deadlines were looming. If DataUSA Inc. doesn’t demonstrate the tendency in politics to cut corners and frame messages, then America will never realize that they are being tricked by politicians and consultants into buying a false bill of goods. The fact that Costin’s actions were exposed is admirable and does show the ability of the justice system to function correctly.

However, it is disheartening to ponder the possibility that the thousands of polling companies and consultants involved in American politics are also involved in poll tampering. The one good thing that may come out of this case, however, is that the American people may wise up, ignore polling numbers, and go out to vote their conscience no matter what is being told to them from on high. That leads to the question of fraud at the ballot box and that is best left for another day.