Erie County Legislator, Kathy Konst has declared for the NYS Senate 59 District seat instead of the US Congress seat left opened by Tom Reynolds’ retirement. She said “A recent poll shows that I am in a dead heat for first place in that race.”
Mrs. Konst must know the law stated by the State Board of Elections but which she ignored. The law states you can’t say anything about a poll without showing all the required information about this makeup poll. There are requirements which must be met before you can quote or write about a poll.
The requirement begins with “No candidate shall attempt to promote the success or defeat of a candidate by directly or indirectly disclosing or causing to be disclosed the results of a poll relating to a candidates for such an office or position unless within 48 hours after such disclosure, they provide the following information concerning the poll to the board or officer with whom statements or copies of statements of campaign receipts and expenditures are required to be filed by the candidate to whom such poll relates.”
a) The name of the person, party or organization that contracted for or who commissioned the poll and/or paid for it.
b) The name and address of the organization that conducted the poll.
c) The numerical size of the total poll sample, the geographic area covered by the poll and any special characteristics of the population included in the poll sample.
d) The exact wording of the question asked in the poll and the sequence of such questions.
e) The method of polling—whether by personal interview, telephone, mail, or other.
f) The time period in which the poll was conducted.
g) The number of persons in the poll sample: the number contacted who did not so respond.
h) The results of the poll.
I checked with the person at the Board of Elections, who is in charge of all polls that are received as required. She stated there wasn’t any poll which had anything to do with candidate Kathy Konst.
Kathy Konst said, “A recent poll shows that I am in a dead heat for first place in that race. Even if there were such a poll it has no value, it didn’t follow any of the rules set by the Board of Elections, none of them. Anyone could say this so called poll show Kathy in last place just as well. The public must realize that when a candidate says a poll shows them as winners, they are usually losers. The public must start asking what else the candidate is lying about.
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