Exit polls are legal.
This was the ruling of the Supreme Court
yesterday on the exit polls conducted by ABS-CBN Channel 2 , which
joined hands with The STAR during the 1998 presidential elections.
Voting 10-4 with one abstention, the High
Court thumbed down Minute Resolution 98-1419 of the Commission on
Elections (Comelec), which barred such polls because they apparently
condition the minds of the people that certain candidates are
winning even before the official counting of ballots.
Former Comelec chief and now Justice
Bernardo Pardo inhibited himself from the proceedings.
It was during Pardo's term that the
resolution was issued. He had said that exit polls were dangerous
because the outcome of the survey may be made to favor some
candidates.
"Quite the contrary, instead of
disrupting elections, exit polls -- properly conducted and
publicized -- can be vital tools for the holding of an honest,
orderly, peaceful and credible elections; and for the elimination of
election-fixing, fraud and other electoral ills," Justice
Artemio Panganiban wrote.
In a 26-page decision, Panganiban branded
as "off-tangent" claims by government lawyers that such an
exercise would "indirectly transgress the sanctity of and
secrecy of the ballot.
"(ABS-CBN) does not seek access to
ballots cast by the voters. The ballot system of voting is not at
issue here. The reason behind the principle of ballot secrecy is to
avoid vote-buying through voter identification," he said.
Exit polls are conducted after a voter has
left the polling precinct. The respondent can either disclose who he
voted for or simply turn down the request. Because of such a poll, a
voting trend could be determined in a particular place.
"In exit polls, the contents of the
official ballot are not actually exposed. Furthermore, the
revelation of whom an elector has voted for is not compulsory, but
voluntary. Voters may also choose not to reveal their
identities," Panganiban said.
He added: "Indeed, narrowly tailored
counter-measures may be prescribed by the Comelec, so as to minimize
or suppress incidental problems in the conduct of exit polls,
without transgressing the fundamental rights of our people."
The SC en banc also invoked the
constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of speech and of the press,
pointing out that government lawyers failed to substantiate their
allegations that exit polls are dangerous.
"The freedoms of speech and of the
press should all the more be upheld when what is sought to be
curtailed is the dissemination of information meant to add meaning
to the equally vital right of suffrage," it said.
Lawyers of the television station brought
the case to the Supreme Court when the poll body turned down their
request to lift the ban on exit polls.
The lawyers said there is yet no
prohibition in the conduct of exit polls in the Election Code.
Besides, they said the Comelec resolution muffled free speech.
"Nowhere in the Omnibus Election Code
does it state that conducting an exit poll is illegal. Neither is
there any proscription of such an act in any of the other provisions
of the said code," the lawyers said.
"It must be stated that in airing the
results of exit polls and other newsworthy election stories, ABS-CBN
is merely fulfilling its role as a guardian of liberty and truth,
bringing information to the general public swiftly and without
bias," they added.
CCHOPE ELECTION
2001 
