Exit Polling Canceled in 19 States

Updated: October 5, 2012 | 8:01 a.m.
October 5, 2012 | 7:56 a.m.

Election worker Barett Smith, right, sets the voting machine as voter Lois Schultz, 91, left, waits to vote in the Super Tuesday presidential primary election, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008, at a polling place in Greenwood, Del. (AP Photo/Rob Carr) (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Exit polling in 19 states has been canceled by the Associated Press and major television networks, a change from the last five elections, The Washington Post reports.

Network executives said they wanted to concentrate on the “most important states” in this election. One of the consequences, however, is that state-level estimates of the partisan, age or racial makeups will no longer be tallied after the election in those states.

The excluded states include Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming, and the District of Columbia.

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