Nick Muscavage

@nmuscavage

Edison Research provides exit poll results for major news outlets.

The protesters, whom supported Bernie Sanders, are claiming that the exit poll results for the Democratic primaries have been fraudulently tampered with.

Many of the protesters mentioned the claim made by trustvote.org that Edison Research changed its exit poll data to align with the electronic vote tallies in the Democratic primaries this year.

SOMERVILLE - A dozen activists are burning for election polling transparency — literally.

It was 95 degrees and sunny on Saturday when the group of activists took to the streets calling on Edison Research, a company that provides exit poll results for major news outlets, to release its raw exit poll data.

The protesters, who supported Bernie Sanders, are claiming that the exit poll results for the Democratic primaries have been fraudulently tampered with.

"We're not out here because we want to get a tan, we're out here because we need to do this, we need to tell the public really what's happening," said Didier Jimenez of Hillsborough, an organizer of the protest. "November is around the corner, we need to wake people up and let them know what you see in the media is an illusion."

Many of the protesters mentioned the claim made by trustvote.org that Edison Research changed its exit poll data to align with the electronic vote tallies in the Democratic primaries this year.

A lawsuit was filed by the Institute of American Democracy and Election Integrity this month to get Edison Research to release its raw data.

"If the margin error was more than 2 percent, the data was manipulated," Jimenez said.

Several of the protesters came from out of state, from places as close as New York and as distant as New Mexico.

But the protest is not solely about discovering the results of the exit polls; it's also to demonstrate basic democratic rights, activists said.

Peter Jacob, the Democrat running this year for the 7th Congressional District, said it's about "justice and fairness." He attended the protest on Saturday morning.

"What I think is important is protecting our democracy, and that's what people are out there for," he said. "What they're doing is ensuring that our democracy is transparent and successful. We just want what's fair and just at the end of the day."

He continued, "Knowing what the exit polls are at the end of the day are a part of that whole process."

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There were three Sanders delegates at the protest, two from New Jersey and one from New Mexico.

"You have to start questioning if election fraud has been rampant in the United States," Stephen Verchinski, a Sanders delegate from New Mexico.

"All of our votes need to be counted, and not just having a paper ballot but also having a paper trail that runs all the way to the final count," he said. "If we don't have any faith in our elections anymore, then we don't have any faith in the Constitution."

Michelle McFadden-DiNicola, a Sanders delegate from New Jersey, has come out several days to protest at Edison Research. She said she was "devastated" when Hillary Clinton received the Democratic presidential nomination.

But when it comes to exit poll data transparency and election fraud, it goes further than preferential candidates, she said.

"People should care, that doesn't necessarily mean they should be here in the heat protesting, but this is not about Bernie," McFadden-DiNicola said. "This is about free, fair, democratic elections. This is about standing up for whatever is left of our democracy."

McFadden-DiNicola and Jeff Epstein, another Sanders delegate from New Jersey, believe that if Edison Research's exit poll raw data was made public, discrepancies may come forth.

"We are out here not to get Bernie to be president. We realize that's gone, as sad as that is," Epstein said. "That's not our goal. Our goal is to simply get the truth."

Staff Writer Nick Muscavage: 908-243-6615; ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com