DAY’S END ROUNDUP

While most polling places are still open on Election Day, the exit polls are starting to leak out. With varying results on the blogosphere — some show a tight race while others suggest a big Barack Obama lead — the big polling sites urge readers to use caution. Conservative bloggers continue to highlight reports of voter fraud and intimidation, while liberal and mainstream bloggers write that the election is going smoothly.

Gawker reports on exit polls that show that the race is closer than expected in five key swing states, while the Drudge Report’s top headline is that Obama is up big. But these exit polls should be ignored for a number of reasons, including the facts that they were wrong during the primaries, have shown a bias toward Democrats and have larger margins of error than most regular polls, writes FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver. Don’t forget that the 2004 exit polls led many to believe that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was going to be president, writes Pollster.com’s Mark Blumenthal.

To hear conservative bloggers tell it, there’s some funny business going on at polling places Tuesday. Michelle Malkin flags video of two men looking like Black Panthers standing ominously outside the polls in Philadelphia. Also in Philly, a poll worker said she caught someone voting twice, notes RedState’s Dan Spencer. In New Hampshire, Republicans poll watchers are being kept too far away from the voting areas they’re supposed to be observing, according to Granite Grok’s Skip Murphy.

But both Democratic and Republican insiders believe that the election is going relatively smoothly, according to Mark Ambinder. And those Black Panthers that conservatives are worrying about don’t seem to be Black Panthers, writes TPM Election Central’s Greg Sargent. One of them is reportedly a GOP poll watcher, Sargent writes.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Ten Reasons to Ignore Exit Polls – Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight
Looking For Exit Polls? – Mark Blumenthal, Pollster.com
Exit Poll Freakout Post – Allahpundit, Hot Air
Exit Poll Numbers Are Tighter – Gawker
Ten Reasons to Ignore Exit Polls – Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight
Black Panther Intimidation At Polls? – Michelle Malkin
Voting Twice in Philly? – Dan Spencer, RedState
Possible Voter Fraud in N.H.! – Skip Murphy, Granite Grok
Obama Vol Disputes Panther Report – G. Sargent, TPM EC
A Relatively Smooth Election. Really. – Marc Ambinder
No Poll Watcher Scandal – Steve Benen, Political Animal

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Candidates Make Final Pitches, Settle In For Results – The Hill
Few Problems As Voters Wait Hours to Cast Ballots – AP
Dems Aim To Expand Majorities in Congress – New York Times