One of the problems with exit polling is that no one polls, or even can poll, the people who vote by absentee ballot, or who vote early, as is allowed in many areas, now. With these voters unreachable, any validity of exit polling goes right out the window.


Not true Dave. One CAN poll people who vote early, just by sending the pollsters out there early too. No great difficulty there. As to Absentee ballots and provisional ballots, these tend to make so little difference they are almost never counted in US elections--the election officers just wait until the machine votes and real-time votes are counted, then count the absentee ballots only if they will make a difference. Usually they won't. Since the reported vote count ignores absentee ballots, the exit poll will more accurately reflect the reported vote count by ignoring the absentee ballots too. Sad but true, absentee voters.