Corrine Dates

MAT 115: Math for Liberal Arts

Election Day Homework

8 November 2010

As I stood outside of my precinct on Election Day, I encountered a lot of different people. Some were very helpful while others were very rude to me. It hadn’t been five minutes until I was asked to leave the premises and stand outside of the flagged areas. Although I was up against two other people working the polls, I kept my ground because I knew I was allowed to stand there. Shortly after, the confusion was dealt with and I was left alone to do my exit polling. There was one person in particular who brightened up my night as I stood outside in the cold. He was a professor at the University of Cincinnati and had many positive things to say about Northern Kentucky University. I went through my speech and handed him the two strips of paper but he did not take them. He pointed to Lee Fisher and said, “I voted for that guy. I find it important to spread your vote to other people. Why does a vote matter if no one else knows but you?” I thought that his comment was very true. I personally, don’t see any need to keep my vote private; however I do respect other people’s wishes on doing so. This man was very helpful to me because he made me feel comfortable in asking other people to assist me with my school project. Unfortunately, not every one was as nice as the professor was.

Multiple people that I approached ignored me completely, while others pretended to listen but later showed that they hadn’t heard a word I said. Almost everyone I talked to asked me, “Now what do I do with these strips of paper?” This showed me just how little time these people wanted to give to me. At most, I took a minute of the voter’s time but it seemed as if they did not have that single minute to spare. Another man that I spoke to puzzled me a bit. He and his wife were exiting and the wife passed on my pole. However, the husband stopped her so that he could listen to me. After I told him what I was doing for my school, NKU, his response was one that I only heard from him, “You know that there were more than just two candidates in the running…I would like to propose the fact that your data will be completely biased and useless,” and he walked away. I stood there, upset at first by how someone could be so rude. I didn’t understand why he would stop his wife just to make a point but then I thought that he wasn’t so wrong. Although rude, he had a point. There were five candidates running for the US Senate in Ohio, yet I was only asking about two. Of course the two (Portman and Fisher) were the top contenders in the race but there were others on the ballot that I failed to recognize.

In conclusion, I would say that my experience on Election Day conducting an exit poll was nothing but interesting. Some people were nice while others were rude and some people were secretive as others were open. I believe that through my conducting of data, I surveyed a variety of people. I did not approach one type of person or one single race, instead I approached every person that came out of the door and walked my way. At first I was extremely nervous to ask people for help on this project but the longer I stood outside, the more curious I became of people’s reactions to my question. I never would have thought that so few people could react in so many different ways.

Location of Precinct:

Cincinnati 15-K

St. Johns Unitarian Church

320 Resor Avenue

Cincinnati, OH 45220

Time of Day:

5:23pm – 6:00pm

Total Number of people talked to:

37 people approached

28 of the 37 people responded to my poll

Tally of Votes:

Rob Portman: 7 Lee Fisher: 21