AP to offer election voter survey to replace exit polls

The Associated Press says it will begin conducting an elaborate election voter survey designed to replace the traditional in-person exit poll.

Exit polls have been criticized in recent years for inaccuracy and failing to keep up with changes in how Americans vote. The AP’s new system will rely on online surveys and telephone questioning, replacing the person with a clipboard who buttonholes voters after they come out of polling places.

The AP said yesterday that its new VoteCast service will be more reliable because far more people will be interviewed than for existing exit polls.

It’s a bold and potentially risky move for the news cooperative, which has until recently pooled resources with television networks to conduct polling in major elections.