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Web Site Invites: 'Vote' in Any Primary

ABC's Web poll lets you compare your views with voters in any state.

By Allison B. Ebel, PCWorld   

The news site is offering interactive exit polls for the presidential primaries, beginning with the South Carolina Republican primary last Saturday. The interactive poll builds on results from actual, random-sample exit polls conducted by the Voter News Service Consortium, which represents various news organizations. After the polls close, ABCNews.com will post the same questions that primary voters have already answered, and invite all surfers to answer.

The site lets you answer the questions and compare your views with those of voters in the primary election.

"It's the first time, as far as we understand it, that a Web site will post the exact same questions that are being asked of primary voters," says Eric Handler, the director of communications for Go.com, which oversees the ABCNews.com site.

"It speaks to the immediacy and interactivity that makes the Internet what it is," Handler says. "It's the next best thing to being there." The South Carolina online poll was the first of what ABCNews.com plans to be many interactive exit polls.

A number of interactive Web functions are changing the speed of media election coverage. The Internet "brings the voters closer to the process" by offering the latest news before, during, and after television stations' broadcasts.

"You're getting news analysis around the clock," Handler says. "It's not just us, it's what the Internet does."

Balancing Coverage and Cause

In addition to the immediacy the Internet brings to political reporting, it offers layers of information. Analysis of campaign issues, timelines, video clips, and interactive chat rooms on the Web are changing the way users digest the latest political headlines. Handler says ABCNews.com offers coverage that complements the network's TV reports.

The digital evolution of campaign coverage raises challenges to traditional election protocols. Most news outlets follow a policy of not naming a winner until the polls have closed, to avoid influencing late-in-the-day voters or even dissuading them from going to the polls at all. But competition to break news is being pushed to the edge by the immediacy of the Web.

During the New Hampshire primary in January, online magazine Slate was the first to report Senator John McCain's lead over Texas Governor George W. Bush more than two hours before the polls closed. Slate writer Jack Shafer spoke out against the embargo.

In an article posted on Slate, Shafer calls the self-censorship practiced by the media an "idiotic and condescending notion." Simply put, he says, "information wants to move."

Handler says ABCNews.com's interactive poll for the South Carolina Republican primary and subsequent votes do not violate the embargo policy. Netizens may not interact on the site until after the polls close.