10/11/06

News organizations sue over Nevada law that bars exit polls near voting places

By BRENDAN RILEY
Associated Press Writer

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- A Nevada law that bars exit polling near voting places violates the constitutional rights of the press, The Associated Press and five television networks allege in a lawsuit.

The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, says a law that prohibits questioning people about their votes within 100 feet of a polling place is unconstitutional.

While the lawsuit is pending, AP, ABC, CNN, CBS, Fox News and NBC also want an injunction preventing enforcement of the law during the upcoming elections, said Susan Buckley, a New York attorney for the news organizations.

Secretary of State Dean Heller, who is named in the suit, said: "The last thing I want is someone walking through a gauntlet of people immediately after they have pushed the voting button."

Nevada election laws have for decades included provisions aimed at preventing partisan activity near polling sites. Under state law, it is illegal "for any person to solicit a vote or to speak to a voter on the subject of marking his ballot" within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling site.

Exit polls were conducted within 100 feet of polling places in the 2004 election without incident or complaints from election officials, according to the lawsuit.

Heller's office, responding to the news organizations' inquiries, said Sept. 29 that exit polling within 100 feet of polling places would be a misdemeanor violation of the law.

The six news organizations prevailed last month in a challenge against a 2004 directive in Ohio against exit polling within 100 feet of a voting place. A lawsuit filed last month in Florida challenges a similar law in that state.